More Lipstick? Gold, Silver & The Insiders Know The Economy & The Markets Are Already Fried
SilverDoctors.com
February 18, 2019
SD Outlook: We have deteriorating fundamentals, and gold & silver know this. In fact, gold & silver got dibs on the bacon. Here’s why…
I was dragged to the mall over the weekend.
I actually don’t mind going to the mall once every few months.
It is, after all, amusing to watch people dressed in what look like brand new clothes, shopping for, well, you guessed it – brand new clothes.
As if Americans don’t have enough brand new freakin’ clothes.
I also enjoy looking for signs of the retail apocalypse, and there were plenty.
The first thing I noticed were several empty spaces where there used to be stores.
The emptiness was masked by painted drywall and marketing, but what is taking place is that several stores are moving to different locations within the same mall.
That is not a good sign.
Why not?
Because when large stores are moving, such as H & M, that’s a lot of empty retail space because the company is basically tying up two larges retail spaces in the mall during its move.
And I’m pretty sure there aren’t just more retailers lined-up fighting for dibs to open-up stores in the newly vacated space.
They will remain boarded-up, however, in my opinion, with painted drywall that’s plastered with advertising, so as not to, you know, not to draw so much attention to the fact that retailers are turning into zombies.
Furthermore, retailers downsizing are simply buying time, but rather, they’re making adjustments needed to survive.
We know downsizing must be the case, especially as Retail Sales plummeted in December.
There is simply not a wave of brand new mall-type retailers sweeping the nation.
A second thing I noticed were three stores in this mall that are closing down.
Crazy 8’s, Gymboree, and Charlotte Russe.
Keep in mind that both the store shuffling and the closing of stores altogether are taking place just as we finished what is supposed to be the busiest time of the year for retailers.
Furthermore, anecdotally speaking, malls located in cities where there is real winter weather seem to have higher foot traffic during the winter as people search out indoor activities, such as shopping, eating out, or seeing a movie.
Third, there is a Payless shoe store in this mall, and as likely everybody knows by now, Payless is going the way of Circuit City this year.
OK, “Hey Half Dollar, you idiot! Everybody knows the economy is booming ever since President Donald J. Trump Made America Great Again, so of course they are going to close down all the Payless shoe stores because people don’t need to buy that cheap crap anymore – now they can afford good shoes!”.
Uh, OK.
Keep sippin’ that Kool-Aid.
Just know they already said “last call”.
And that hangover is going to be miserable.
But I digress.
There is one more anecdotal point I want to make about my trip to the mall: All the clothes are very cheap quality and very expensive at the same time.
Now, when I say cheap, I mean crappy, low-quality materials.
When I say expensive, let me give you an example: Rothco “fatigues”.
Yes, that crappy clothing company that made cheap Chinese knock-off US Military “style” clothing, which you actually couldn’t ever wear in the US military because the pants didn’t conform to the strict specifications and tolerances for real military fatigues, but Rothco has somehow become popular recently, and they’re targeting the youth of America.
Which means they’re targeting ‘Ol Half Dollar’s wallet.
Here’s an example screenshot of the pair of pants I purchased over the weekend (in a skinny, youth size they will outgrow in one year, mind you:
The Rest…HERE
