My observations too at the Home Depot mall - very light considering with more workers than customers in Home Depot

I live in Northern VA - the DC suburbs and you pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding my neck of the woods. Alot of people up here are out of touch with the reality regarding the rest of the country and those not sucking on the govt tit

Gen,
What is the YOY difference in terms of real, not nominal dollars? Just wonderin'...

We went to a 6 AM sale on Friday and it seemed very busy everywhere with plenty of traffic on the roads. Today, Saturday, is another story. The stores and mall we visited seemed to have only the normal numbers of shoppers you'd see on any given Saturday. No problem finding a parking place anywhere we visited.

This is my take. IF they did manage a decent "BF" it was only by pulling forward significant demand for rest of the "season."

I didn't go by the local WMT yesterday so I don't know what it was like ... usually would have been a total madhouse. However, I did go by today and the lot was at best only 3/4 full ... totally normal for mid-day Saturday ... actually maybe just a bit light compared to usual Saturdays. And the weather is phracking gorgeous ... 69 degrees, sunny.

My observation was dismal. There was nothing I wanted in the early morning sales so I went out at 10:30 am yesterday. First to Walmart. I was looking for 4 items (2 were on sale ALL of Friday and 2 that I just wanted). Very easy to find parking. Looked busier than a typical Friday but no busier than a typical Saturday. Every item I was looking for was either sold out or not in stock. I asked the clerks and they said I should have been there earlier. I pointed out that these items are suppose to be on sale ALL day so why didn't they stock enough? No answer. I only see three answers to this. I missed the massive rush at 5 am that took the stock, they didn't stock enough of sale items, or they just didn't stock as much as last year because they didn't believe it's going to be a good retail season. I bought bird seed and left. NO waiting in lines either. Even a typical Saturday has lines at Walmart. So I'm thinking people are doing more looking than buying, they came early for the deep discounts period, and stores are not stocking as in prior years.

Went to Kmart next to get an electric scooter for my daughter that was suppose to be on sale all day Friday and Saturday. I got the last one. Again, no crowds and no lines.

Next I went to CVS. A couple of cars in the parking lot. Next door to CVS was a Savers store and a Goodwill store. Both parking lots full. Interesting. I see more store closings here in Nevada come January. Very dismal. Of course Nevada is one of the worse unemployment and foreclosure states.

My sister, who lives in Massachusetts, said she heard on the news that there was so many people at Walmart early in the morning that they had to stop people from coming in at one point. I wonder if the crowds continued all day.

Another interesting thing I noticed at Walmart was a price increase. A couple of weeks ago I bought a DVD for my daughter to give as a gift to a friend. It was $10. My daughter wanted the same DVD so I went to get another and it is now $13. In 2 weeks????

Local sales tax numbers will tell the real story. How long before we can access that number?

Ilike, roughly a month. Most states have sales tax returns due on the 15th of the next month. It takes time for them to compile and release the information (and not all states do release it.)

My wife drove past the local mall (Springfield Mall outside Philadelphia) on her way to the health club at 5:15 AM on Friday and later told me that the parking lot was packed to overflowing. Not sure how much can be gleaned from this, because this is a ritual for some people. The real question is how much they spend.

Boshaug -

WDC and environs have been like that for 50 years. All upper middle class and clueless.

Someone that I know works at a large toy packaging and distributing company. The were told not to come in today (Saturday). This is the FIRST time any of the long-time employees ever remember not being called in to work the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. Toy orders are WAY down.

Massachusetts reporting:

Saw one tent in front of Best Buy Thursday morning...douche bag. Everything SLAMMED both Friday and today. I never went in a store so no report on that, parking lots were maxed out though. I found it comical at family gatherings - everybody bragging about getting this "great deal" on a bunch of **** they don't need. Amazing, well off people throwing tantrums over 20 bucks off a casio key board. I don't bother anymore with talks about reality, I just sit back and medicate.

went to a walmart in Inverness Fl fri 4:45AM with thoughts of picking up a $198 laptop for the kid. parking lot 3/4 full, 100 people waiting line in the electronics dept. No $198 laptop on display, on an end cap display or insight. decided the 100 people that look to have been there since 1AM were going to get the mysterious laptop first and not to bother wait around. walking out to the the parking lot see that it was 95% full at 5AM. thankfully the store was open 24hr and not let a ravenous crowd of savages build at the door until stampede limit was reached.
all that said, most of the people inside were pushing empty carts which means they were waiting for the 5AM kickoff of the stupid-cheap sales. Such sales certainly cannot generate any profit.

I was going to go out in NJ on Friday morning but was paying attention to the market unexpectedly. I also saw that the news was reporting lines at midnight had pretty much decided to ditch trying to get the 59 GPS.

My friend, 45 minutes outside of NYC in NJ was out shopping anyway and was able to buy it for me. She was only out buying the deals she saw and nothing else.

From those I know that did go out they had specific things in mind. It wasn't an all out shop.

On the way back to DC metro today I made several stops off of the highway and was surprised at how many strip malls in PA and rural MD that are totally empty. Not actual malls but the strip kind that don't have any major retailers.

NYC is not the party/recovery everyone is talking about on CNBC. Lots and lots of regular joes out of work and LOTS of resentment towards Wall Street which surprised me given the rally since March. My nephew is apartment hunting and mentioned that lots of apartments close in in Brooklyn are coming up without the usual fee! I went to Peter Lugers for dinner and prices have not inflated at all in 9 years which is the last time I went there for dinner.

DC OTOH does seem unusually busy but it is la-la land here. Lots of chatter like, "You better go get that deal now b/c the inventory is low and you won't get it if you wait" and "the high end retailers are not offerring any deals." Good luck with that.

I don't use too many 'high-end' items but I do like Chanel foundation. It stays on the face and is the best coverage I found. It looks natural and if you have roscea like I do that's great. One container used to cost 65 two years ago and since then the price has droped to 54. The size is the same. One container lasts 6 months or so. Whenever I go in there they offer free facials. Of course they are trying to get you to buy their other products so I don't indulge anymore b/c I feel guilty doing so. When I was in Saks I didn't see many people in there at all but that was the Friday before TG.

There are deals out there if you have the money.

I didn't go this year.

Glennb6,

Since the trampling last year, all Wal-Marts in the country are 24-hour prior to Black Friday, unless not allowed due to local law. My good friend is a manager at a Wal-Mart, and he said they also did a lot of other things for BF sales, like queues similar to amusement parks to get a ticket to then exchange for the sub-$200 laptops, so there can be no rushes, no trampling.

He also said that every single advertized BF sale at Wal-Mart this year lost money. Wal-Mart is already cutting things close to the margin in order to keep the "low prices" image. They don't want to be beaten on any advertised BF sale. Market share and all that.

However, they were trying to make up those differences on incedentals and accessories, like 90% markup on HDMI cables, etc. He had to be at work at 3 am this morning, so I haven't called him to ask him about how sales were.

Given where we were last year, a half percent increase in sales has to be a major disappointment. And, as I pointed out in another thread, the emphasis on one shopping day is just buying forward sales that would normally occur in the next few weeks.

Sorry retailers, the public demands lower prices.

Well, I'll be spending more this year than last, but that is primarily because I sold an ounce of Gold that I bought at $300 for $1150 this week, so I actually HAVE a little bit of money.

I got to my local super Wal-Mat at around 6AM and was able to get a parking near the front on black Friday. Once inside it wasn't as full as before. This might be due to the fact that Wal-Mart allows people inside the store before the 5AM holiday sale.

Other then the electronic section (bumper to bumper)it was easy to move around. Haven't gone to the mall yet.

This is only a BARELY favorable report from a notoriously OPIMISTIC source. I think the odds are that in reality there was a decrease. I believe they (media) were clearly pumping hard for a really big number ... this isn't it.

KD posted that last year this same organization estimated a 3% increase.

In reality sales in 2008 were down over 5.5%
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28387383

So this year they are claiming a 0.5% increase. What will reality be?

I didn't buy anything yesterday (except for some pizza), but I did notice a few interesting discounts on newegg had sold out.. This one in particular:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as....

(28" 1920x1200, $259)

But they'll all either be cheaper next year or we'll be in Mad Max and it won't matter..

The disaster is Saturday. I was at South Coast Plaza, Orange County, California largest and most prestigious mall.

There were so few people there I was stunned. It was like a below average weekday. Nordstrom was like a ghost town. I had also visited a Target, and they were pretty busy. But the purchases people were making were in the 20-50 dollar range. Cheap stuff on deep discount.

Here’s the list of stores at South Coast Plaza, or walking dead would be better.

PDF: http://www.southcoastplaza.com/images/pd....

Was at a Meijer this mornng to return an item and there were crowds.

I know of a couple in their late 40's. She is on SS disability and her husband is an unemployed carpenter. Their house is in foreclosure yet they still buy items at Nordstrom. Wonder how many stopped paying on their house and are just blowing the money they would normally use to pay the house.