The inevitable post-Black Friday stories report that while it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, spending was way down and profits even more down. Being reflexively liberal, I have a scoffing “so what” reaction, but I know that this isn’t so great, realistically speaking. Black Friday is not, as it’s often presumed, the biggest shopping day of the year, but it’s a good indicator of what the season is going to look like. And it’s not good.
But while the crowds did come out, analysts say they were thinner than last year, and according to some accounts, business fell off sharply for the remainder of the weekend.
Shoppers were also focused on bargains and smaller-ticket, practical items like blenders and video games, as they worry about layoffs, tightening credit and shrinking retirement funds.