Let me start off by saying that I recognize that I live in a “bubble” of sorts. San Francisco hasn’t yet (fingers crossed) been hit as hard as much of the country by the recession.  We ventured out to one of our local malls, The Village at Corte Madera in Marin, and I was quite surprised to see that not only was the mall busy, it was packed.  We’re talking traffic jam, using annex gravel parking, rent-a-cop to direct traffic packed.  A few observations:  a) home goods and electronics retailers seemed to have the most traffic. I visited Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams-Sonoma, and the Sundance store.  All were brimming with customers eagerly picking up the post season discounts.  And b) apparel retailers seemed to be having a traffic issue.  Gap, Banana Republic, J.Crew, Martin & Osa all had a fair amount of customers, but not nearly the traffic of those retailers selling home goods.  Perhaps consumers are focusing on the comforts of home versus the latest clothing trends.

That being said, the discounting was heavy and wide spread (as expected).  West Elm seemed to be giving the store away.  With much of the store already on sale, customers could take advantage of an additional 40% off! I filled a large shopping bag with ornaments and holiday decor for about $15!  J.Crew was offering an additional 30% off merchandise.  And much of the sale merchandise was an additional 50% off at Pottery Barn.  This certainly has been a very rough Holiday season for retail.  And those of us in the business are all a bit nervous about what these results will mean for our businesses and jobs.

But in the doom and gloom of this recession I am looking on the bright side.  65 – 70% off sales at Barneys New York, Saks 5th Avenue and Bloomingdales.  Amen!!