There was nothing so much as zombies that came to mind today as I made my annual trek to “the malls” to see how Christmas was faring, retail-income-wise.
I mean, you HAVE to give something to everyone on your list, right? Love and kisses, like this little one is sending in this vintage postcard, is JUST NOT ENOUGH. (For some people. To you, I send Love and Kisses.)
Thus, the Zombies of the Mall. All the parking spaces were filled. Starbucks and the mall cafes overflowed with “exhausted” shoppers, there were some mighty strange folks out there…
but no one was buying.
I kid you not. They were doing inventory in one department store. Dillard’s had not a single shopper in their Christmas decorations department (maybe because everything was still full price…3-1/2 days before Christmas? Hello, what’s that stuff worth in 4 days????) The Ralph Lauren trousers ($125) were piled on a table, every last one of their sweat-shop wrinkles intact for jolly holiday gifting.
Okay, so Friday before a Monday Christmas Eve is officially “guy day”… they can’t shop Saturday or Sunday or Christmas Eve, so this is the LAST day for men to shop. It’s Guess-&-Get-Malled time for the men. One desperate fellow even approached ME (a scary prospect, that, with my why-can’t-they-get-it-right scowl I wear in malls) to ask “Is this a bookbag?”
I asked how much something was. It was obvious Macy’s wanted to sell it (I assume that’s why it was in the middle of the $^&* aisle) but there was no, repeat, NO, price tag (is this any way to run a business?) The person standing under the 6-foot-long sign reading CUSTOMER SERVICE waved her hand casually at a “Check the price here” $%$# bar-code reader. I mean, at WalMart, okay. At a “full-service department store”… which BTW just this year obliterated the local name of Burdine’s and squatted in beloved “home-town” territory… Merry Christmas to you too.
And I won’t even get STARTED on the lack of imagination, lack of unique and unusual and just plain NICE stuff at the malls. Even if you were willing to overlook the distinct lack of holiday helpfulness, there was NOTHING TO BUY.
Is it any wonder the mall stores can take perfectly jolly shoppers, wanting to find a token of affection for their loved ones, into living dead? Is it any wonder that any consignment/ thrift/ resale store can beat the pants off those “new” retailers?
Hope YOUR customers have a merrier time shopping in YOUR shops this last holiday weekend.
More of Kate’s retail and resale wisdom at Too Good to be Threw, home of The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops, as well as consumer-focused thoughts at HowToConsign.com where you can find a professional resale shop
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
I have to say, that every year I encountered customers who were truly delighted to shop our store at Xmas time. DELIGHTED! They’d get so happy to find that we still had this or that – I remember the year we were the first store in our community to have magic scarves. That was a whoooppeee for us and a whooopeee for the customer. I wish every resale store that unique happiness.
The store is located in the downtown shopping district and I have to say, none of the stores down there really experienced unhappy shoppers. I think so much was that they were destination shops – people wanted to come shopping downtown for one reason or the other. They weren’t relegated to the mall.
Which, btw, I only stepped foot into one time this entire year and that’s b/c I could only get this one Hannah Montana alarm clock at Claires for the 9 y/o.
It’s been 5 years since I’ve been in a WalMart which makes me even happier. It takes a little more work but I’ve been able to find just as affordable items elsewhere and not have to support their policies.