every year around this time, i joke about how retail sales failed to meet expectations during the holiday season. it's a joke because retailers say that at the end of every season. i keep wondering why they don't just change their expectations.
but it looks like this year really was exceptionally bad. there's all sorts of dire predictions about a cascade of bankruptcies, stores all over "main street" and/or the local mall closing, et cetera. now that they've gotten a taste of what a really bad year looks like, maybe whoever is left standing when we get out of this mess will start having more reasonable expectations about their holiday sales figures in the future.
somehow i doubt it.
