Retails Sales... What Sales?

I can't tell you how the rest of the retailers in New York City are responding to the after Christmas sales rush, but I can tell you that on the Upper East Side in Yorkville the place is virtually sale free.

In search of post Xmas sales I began by scanning the local drug stores seeking those wonderful bath and body gift sets which I usually get for half price. Unbelievably, I could find none. I also observed that the in store Xmas sections where last year there were deep discounts this year... forget-about-it.

I also visited a collection of shoe stores scattered on 86th street. I was enticed in by the big signs with huge letters screaming 70% off and above in tinny tiny letters.."up too". Ignoring my past experience with such signage I took a walk into these stores. No surprise I couldn't find any of that "specially marked merchandise" that was actually 70% off. Someone must have bought out the entire two pairs of shoes that would legally protect the store from false advertising. I was foiled again.

Sadly, in my humble opinion this was the worst after Xmas shopping that I have ever seen and I'm beginning to think that maybe these retailers and us shoppers are locked in some kind of retail tango. Are we the shoppers holding out for bargains by punishing the retailers? Are the retailers in retaliation punishing us shoppers with crappy sales? Maybe so. Get out there and let me know what you think.