Holiday Recession

What does recession look like?

A clean and neat, well ordered Christmas aisle at your favorite store.


Wandering through my local Target (which I do not buy Christmas presents at since they banned the Salvation Army) I noticed that the holiday aisles were all in order and barely looked touched. I remember in years past how frazzled everything usually is - card boxes thrown about, different kinds of paper mixed in with each other, mixed up Christmas ornaments, items randomly strewn about. That is not the case now, at least not yet.

While I would say in my area there haven't been many visible signs of recession, I wonder if this is a small indicator.

I did however encounter something more blatant during this trip. While purchasing my $1.50 combo of popcorn and a medium pop at the concession area, the older lady in front of me commented that her usual combo (hot dog and drink) that sold for $2.00 had gone up. It had gone up $.50. I'm not a math wiz, but that seems like a huge increase for a $2.00 menu item. She took it in stride and pulled out more change. But if this was a regular adventure, I wonder if she will have to cut down how often she buys?

I am still unemployed and the numbers out today are not encouraging. How long will it take for all this to trickle down, even in more affluent areas. I hope 6 months is correct and it's not more like three.

What do you see? Is it hitting you where you live? Please leave comments if you are interested.