In a suburb, outside Detroit, I had to wait for Mr. Pants to buy his lettuce. It was a large Mega-discount store---groceries, stuff--One stop and you can buy everything--soup, a tent, garden plants, and a shirt! I waited on the side of the garden center, as apparently looking for flowers takes much less time than lettuce shopping.
I started to watch the cars that were pulling in... Chrysler products. Fords. General Motors cars of all kinds......and it became rapidly apparent that anyone who thinks that the Americans who shop at this mega-discount store want small fuel efficient vehicles, have not looked around this parking lot. BIG horn trucks, more- power Vettes, SUV's, JEEPS! I saw three Honda's about one in 10-15 ratio to the American cars--older silver Hondas-- driven by older women. There were large Buick's--mostly Burgundy in color, Chevy's of every description---lots of Ford sedans, SUV's, and those ugly "new" metallic trim clad station wagons.
Now, one could say it is Detroit--home of the big three---but this occurred miles from Detroit. These are "discount" shoppers---sort of everyday Americans. They were shopping, so probably still have jobs. They seem uninterested in little, uninterested in foreign, uninterested in hybrids.....
So, Washington, maybe this is an aberration unique to this area......or you guys in DC do not know any "real" American consumers.......
This could get interesting!
Random musings of a middle aged knitter.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
60
On Friday it was 60 degrees! For those in Miami it is winter coat weather. Here it is practically take off your shoes and dance in the street weather---at least this year. There was still snow here and there. But the sun was shining---and everyone came our of their cubicles and stood around basking in the sun.
Coats were strangely absent. Sunglasses appeared again. People walked slowly--face to the sun, enjoying the reprieve from winter. There were groups just standing around talking---where the huge piles of snow had been accumulating all winter. There was a "sidewalk" sale at the Hallmark Store--a hastily conviened table of one of-a-kind and odd items labeled "Stuff for a Buck"---encouraging brisk a business!
But underlying all of this hopefulness is the weigh of economic uncertainty. The Dollar Store boasts a hand lettered sign "Closing Sale--all wall items 25% off". No one was buying anything--even for 75 cents. Diners were once again parked at the wrought iron tables inside the corrals at the eateries--but they were ordering the soup and 1/2 sandwich or salad specials--not the pricer items that used to be everyday fare.
I decided to prolong my interaction with the sun, and walked several blocks to a pizza establishment. Ordered, paid, waited. At one point I thought they called my name, but when I approached the window, the employee looked , and shook his head---I much have hear incorrectly (it was noisy, and crowded with high school kids on a field trip). I returned to my table, and my puzzle......but after a longer time, noticed that those who ordered long after me were picking up their orders. I approach again, and ask about my order---which is clearly in the computer, and no where to be found. After much discussion about this puzzlement, the manager was called, and it was decided that they needed to remake my pizza---that someone else had picked it up! Fortunately, I was not done with the puzzle--and they gave me a "free pizza". (Hastilly cooked, that was about what it was worth).
A sign of the times, I guess. A pizza nabber---walked up and walked off with my order in the chaos of noon at the pizza place. Free lunch!! The second time in a week that I had experienced someone creatively "nabbing" something from a retail establishment. All of the brightness of spring cannot hide the darker side of our current economy. People who used to pay $5.00 for a personal pizza take one instead.
People desparate for groceries "drive away" at the self check lane.....and the merchants, already percariously near loosing their shirts, must pass on the losses to everyone else---who are opting for the less expensive items to make ends meet.
Economics 101 on a sunny day downtown.....optimistic about the weather, pesimistic about the economy!
Coats were strangely absent. Sunglasses appeared again. People walked slowly--face to the sun, enjoying the reprieve from winter. There were groups just standing around talking---where the huge piles of snow had been accumulating all winter. There was a "sidewalk" sale at the Hallmark Store--a hastily conviened table of one of-a-kind and odd items labeled "Stuff for a Buck"---encouraging brisk a business!
But underlying all of this hopefulness is the weigh of economic uncertainty. The Dollar Store boasts a hand lettered sign "Closing Sale--all wall items 25% off". No one was buying anything--even for 75 cents. Diners were once again parked at the wrought iron tables inside the corrals at the eateries--but they were ordering the soup and 1/2 sandwich or salad specials--not the pricer items that used to be everyday fare.
I decided to prolong my interaction with the sun, and walked several blocks to a pizza establishment. Ordered, paid, waited. At one point I thought they called my name, but when I approached the window, the employee looked , and shook his head---I much have hear incorrectly (it was noisy, and crowded with high school kids on a field trip). I returned to my table, and my puzzle......but after a longer time, noticed that those who ordered long after me were picking up their orders. I approach again, and ask about my order---which is clearly in the computer, and no where to be found. After much discussion about this puzzlement, the manager was called, and it was decided that they needed to remake my pizza---that someone else had picked it up! Fortunately, I was not done with the puzzle--and they gave me a "free pizza". (Hastilly cooked, that was about what it was worth).
A sign of the times, I guess. A pizza nabber---walked up and walked off with my order in the chaos of noon at the pizza place. Free lunch!! The second time in a week that I had experienced someone creatively "nabbing" something from a retail establishment. All of the brightness of spring cannot hide the darker side of our current economy. People who used to pay $5.00 for a personal pizza take one instead.
People desparate for groceries "drive away" at the self check lane.....and the merchants, already percariously near loosing their shirts, must pass on the losses to everyone else---who are opting for the less expensive items to make ends meet.
Economics 101 on a sunny day downtown.....optimistic about the weather, pesimistic about the economy!
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