To those of you who can still afford to make regular trips to the grocery store (wake up, wake up, it’s the first of the month) you’ve probably noticed grocers have started selling pumpkins. Meanwhile retailers as early as mid-September have started setting up Christmas decorations hoping to set the mood for the holiday shopping season. Yeah, good luck with that.
Despite retail sales sparking in August due to the government’s cash for clunkers program the Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, said its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 53.1 in September from an upwardly revised 54.5 in August. Economists were expecting a reading of 57. With a key measure of consumer confidence falling so close to the holidays retailers are spooked.
Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center told CNN Money, “Consumers remain quite apprehensive about the short-term outlook and their incomes. With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is not very encouraging news.”
You think?
While I have noticed some are eager about shopping for the holidays, for many others there ain’t nothing going on but the rent. With unemployment inching closer and closer to 10% and growing fears about the state of the economy and when it will rebound I’m sure it makes sense to expect the sale of all sales in the coming months.
But is that enough to entice to you shop? Maybe, but take this bit of advice: If your credit score matches LeBron James’ jersey number, stay your butt at home…and away from QVC.
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Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.