Friday, December 26, 2008

CHRISTMAS REDUX

Although it has never had a nickname like "Black Friday" or "Cyber Monday", December 26th is when retailers keep their fingers crossed and hope things go well.
This is the dreaded return day, when people hope to exchange that ill-fitting sweater or inappropriate Christmas gift for something better. Meanwhile, other consumers hope to find something special to use whatever gift cards/certificates they might have acquired over the holiday upon.
And of course everyone hopes to find bargains amongst all the prices retailers slashed in hopes of selling the merchandise that did not sell before December 25th.
But while the sales normally would outweigh the returns, this year is different with the current economic situation leading consumers to not spend nearly as much as retailers hoped.
Yet only time will tell whether or not all the checks and minuses balance out for any business to report a profit for the final quarter of 2008, let alone how the results will affect the spring of 2009.

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