What are the crowds like?

[Drew]

I'm out of the US, but curious to know what the Christmas shopping crowds are like. From the news, things sound like they're really getting bad. Is it apparent by the numbers of shoppers that you see?

[IronMac]

Up here in Toronto, Canada, I went out Xmas shopping on Sunday afternoon and the stores were busy but not crowded. Sears had small lineups of maybe 1-2 at a time.

Going to the Apple Store where it is normally a zoo, it was just busy and you could get help if you needed it. In the past, you had to chase down an employee or wait in line if you spotted one. Interestingly enough, there was almost no one around the iPod displays. I could go from model to model to colour to colour without encountering anyone else.

The computers were a lot busier in comparison and people were buying accessories so that was a good sign.

[OWC Jamie]

What I've heard so far is most people are cutting back or being very careful to stay within a budget.
If someone spent $50 dollars last year, then $40 this year, etc.

We have a big Christmas Eve get together every year at Mom and Dad's, then Christmas Day is with our respective families and in-laws.
With now having 12 grandkids (between us brother and sisters) and a brother and sister on reduced salaries we've decided to pool the kids names and each buy 3 of the 12 and put Christmas Eve Santa on the tag from instead of our names. They're all under 5 except 2 of them. We also picked exchange names out of a hat like an office pool for all us brother and sisters. Seems odd to me because I can afford Christmas, so I keep imagining being broke and still having to make Christmas happen. It's really shaping up to be more about getting together and it's actually kinda nice this way. We'll see. That's our cutback this year.

Went through Macy's to get a pair of shoes at J.C. Penney and both store were fairly empty. No lines. One thing odd I noticed at Macy's was 50 and 70% off signs. On Summer clothes. Like they never disposed of the Summer stock last Fall.

As far as Christmas I just got decorations up and the tree(s). Seems like most of the stores were careful this year not to have leftovers, especially Lowes. and Lowes had a 50% off on Christmas lights last weekend and had nothing left. (I was looking for another 18 foot red light rope to extend the one I have that has actually been too short. )

[mattkime]

a walmart employee was trampled to death on black friday - doesn't that count for anything??

[simonm]

In Germany the statistics so far suggest better sales than last year. People may be a bit more careful than before about what they buy but they are actually spending more. Anecdotal evidence suggests people are thinking "hey, I mightn't have a job next year, I'd better have a good time while I can."

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Couldn't tell ya - I explicitly stay away from B&M stores during the Christmas shopping season. I purchase gifts earlier in the year and/or purchase online.

[Drew]

mattkime wrote:
a walmart employee was trampled to death on black friday - doesn't that count for anything??

That one was on local TV news here in Japan.

[IronMac]

Came back earlier from the same mall (one of the biggest in Canada btw) from picking up some Xmas cards. Hallmark Store had lineups of 1-2 people at a time, lot of people milling about but I didn't see much buying.

[Article Accelerator]

I was in Sherway Gardens mall in west Toronto on the weekend. The Apple Store was jammed--just crazy. Every few minutes a customer exited the store carrying one or more bags of Apple goodies. I wish I had a video camera...

The rest of the mall was fairly busy but nothing came close to the Apple Store.

Where were you, IronMac--Sherway, Yorkdale, or Eaton Centre?