I'll just buy things that people really need or want. He is not alone. And the impact of such born-again frugality will be harsh. There is no spending power left. The good news for shoppers is that hard-pressed retailers across the country are already slashing prices to bring people into their stores.
Most stores are in far worse financial shape than their customers.
Catalog operators, for their part, are facing not just slack demand but also the rising costs of paper and postage this year. Rival catalog giant Lands' End plans to resist the industry price-cutting trend by holding its prices level with those of last year and offering extras such as free gift boxes and monograms. The price cutting on everything else is earlier and more aggressive than I've seen it in years. Even before the bleak Christmas outlook, the U.S. retailing industry was suffering through a traumatic restructuring brought on by too few shoppers and too many stores. Retailers have nearly doubled their selling space since 1985, bringing it to a ratio of 19 sq.