“I Was Expecting Many More People”: Black Friday Tumbles To 3rd Spot In Busiest Shopping Days Of The Year
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Nov 24, 2017
It has been an odd year for retail: with an estimated 6,000 store closures, and 65,000 fewer retail jobs than at the start of the year, many have said shorting retail, and especially malls, is the next “big short” trade. Indeed, one look at the performance of the mall heavy CMBX 6 BBB- tranche confirms that the bottom has fallen out of the legacy “bricks and mortar” space.
And yet, despite what should be a furious race to the bottom for market share by all still solvent non-Amazon retailers, this has not happened in what appears to be a strange manifestation of rational pricing. In fact, according to Market Track, last year the discounts were 6% deeper than this year across 17 categories in Black Friday circulars, the WSJ reports, and notes that only three of 10 major retailers the firm measured had better prices this year.
This was obvious to potential buyers like Delaney Dauchy, 15, who was shopping with her mother at a mall in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and told the WSJ that the deals aren’t as good this year. She recalled a seven-for-$28 deal on underwear at Victoria’s Secret last year; this year, she said it was five-for-$28. The Dauchys said there were smaller crowds than past years and Black Friday deals have been going on all week. “I’m not sure it seems extra special,” Anne Dauchy, 47, said.
The Rest…HERE
