In the retail world, the holidays are shaping up to be a case study in the haves and have-nots.

[a kennedy]

Which side a retailer falls on depends on its customers: Do they have money? Or are times tight?

If the customers are "upmarket," where their incomes are rising and their personal economy is good, retailers are doing well. Such as Saks and Nordstrom.

If customers are "downmarket," where the cost of gasoline is hurting and raises are few, they aren't doing as well. Such as Wal-Mart and Target.

On Thursday, that divide became clearer as retailers reported sales for October.

Wal-Mart said U.S. sales at stores open at least a year were basically flat compared with a year ago, while Target's same-store sales rose 3.9%. But Saks' same-store sales were up 9.2% and Nordstrom's 10.7%.

"There's a huge split in the consumer base that's really creating a polarization in the market," says Sheila McCusker, editor of Information Resources' Times & Trends, which studies consumer shopping trends.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2006-11-02-have-have-nots_x.htm

[a kennedy]

1. This isn't as important as the election......but I thought it deserved

at least some talk. The haves and the have nots, exactly what's been going on during this whole repub take over. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, don't even consider the middle class as that class has been eliminated. :mad:

[MadHound]

3. Actually it could be considered more important than the election

Again, it is more evidence that the gap between the rich and the rest of us has spread even further. This gap originally broke the old record, set back in the days of the Gilded Age and robber barons, under Clinton, and has only grown since then. This is a bipartisan disgrace, and further proof that we are still living under a two party/same corporate master system of government.

[brer cat]

6. Remember Toys for Tots

and other orgs that help families out. Bad news for walmart and target means bad news for lots of children.

This is important. Thanks for posting.

[knitter4democracy]

2. I've been waiting for this.

I wondered. We're cutting back on Christmas this year. I'm already done getting my son's few presents, and I only have one trip to make for my daughter's few. We're considered up-market, but I'm worried about our debt and heating costs this winter and my surgery bills that we haven't seen yet.

[notadmblnd]

4. Well let's just see how long the rich can hold up the economy

I'm just going to make myself some popcorn and watch the floor drop out from under these greedy corporate bastards. :popcorn:

[marions ghost]

5. the rich think they can live in their own little bubble...

recently a set of "exclusive" (ie. excluding most of us) shoppes opened in an area in my state that draws from a cross-section of Americans. One of the boutiques has clothes for women. You should have heard the local home health care nurses talking about some skirts that were nothing more than thin cotton rags (from India) for $150 they saw in the shop. They were bitter. They were blistering (unprintable) in their opinions of the buyers of those rags, some who they had worked for. Yes, the gap between the haves and have-nots is wider than ever.

[JHB]

8. Not that I follow celeb news, but in today's paper...

...I saw something where Nicole Richie checked out of rehab preaturely to go on a shopping spree.

An $80,000-a-F***ing month rehab center.

Hey, pay me (or you, or any of those home care nurses you mentioned) that much and we'll cure your "eating disorder" in a couple of months, guaranteed.

[Generic Other]

7. Shop second hand and you strike a blow at the corporatists

I end up denying them any profits and I always find stuff I like that's just as good as new.