Took a header last month.
Well, except the used book biz- we were up a bit.
The secondary market thrives when times is hard.
But locally Mervyn's is going down, Linens n' Things (which opened about a year ago) is going down, and there are a lot of places running light on inventory during what is traditionally the ramp-up to Christmas.
I think there's going to be blood in the streets this January.
Big chains don't shut down before the largest yearly buying spree unless things are dire. I expect several more to crash and burn if/when Christmas sales are in the toilet.
Yeah, I'm feeling it big time. My sales are down to about a quarter of what I sold last year. Really scary. I haven't bought much new merch either. The talking heads on the networks claim the interweb sales are going to jump, but I used to get 10 - 12 orders a day, now it's down to 8 a week. For real.
ReplyDeletecounter-intuitively, the economic collapse has been great for us.
ReplyDeletePeople who suddenly need money look for shit to sell- we've bought a TON of great books that we'd never have seen in a healthy economy.
And for people with suddenly limited means looking to economize, what's more natural than the used book store.
apparently video game sales are up about 20% too
ReplyDeletewe went to the movies today -- it was the massive outdoor mall (must see daniel crag on the largest screen available to me. and in 3-d, if possible)and it was almost empty.
ReplyDeletethe economy, it is collapsing.
Ouch. How was the latest Bond action? Was the latest Star Trek movie trailer awesome?
ReplyDeletewoody, the bond movie was derivative, heartless and predictable, but i'll watch daniel craig do anything, especially if he ends up all sweaty and determined in a dirty, blood-stained suit. so, not as good as the first (he's the only bond as far as i'm concerned), but still enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteand the star trek trailer was great! i'll go see that!