Dean Carlson says, of shopping downtown Tues night, > By far the most disappointing > experience downtown at Christmas ever. Hope it was just a bad > night, not a trend.
Light rain and cooler weather may have kept folks home Tues. night. But, as the STrib article mentions, suburban malls and superstores are mighty competitors for our downtown retailers. Likely as not, it's just a reflection of the overall economy. With retail prices slashed everywhere already, just imagine the deals to be found at the 'after the holiday' sales ahead. Economy shoppers might consider handing out personal rainchecks and IOU's to friends and loved ones when possible, in hope of realizing significant savings at post holiday sales. And of course there are all those folks like me, who haven't even started holiday shopping yet. The procrastinators. Like the undecided, independent voters in elections, we late shoppers cast added uncertainty on all the projections of retail analysts everywhere! Econometric forecasts, beige books, consumer surveys, Ba Humbug! Factors to consider: Reduced public revenues, poor corporate earnings, budget cuts, layoffs, higher taxes and stagnant markets don't contribute much to consumer confidence nor add much momentum to consumer spending. Low mortgage rates continue to fuel home construction, even as price appreciation rates abate. Retirees lucky enough to have savings fret over the record-low interest rates and their greatly reduced returns-- which they count on to make ends meet. Uncertainty in the mid-east and Venezuela don't bode well for conventional energy prices as we finally slide into the winter heating season here in MN, and a larger chunk of our disposable income is shipped to out-of-state/out-of-country fossil-fuel energy producers. Nationally, economists debate the merits/probabilities of lower inflation trends and deflation in months ahead; and speak of a correction in the housing market (a bubble?), lower rents to follow...? all while local budgeteers continue to debate local spending priorities and consider new programs/projects-- after the horse is out of the barn, so-to-speak. My advice to local budgeteers; don't jeopardize the current workout plan. If anything, take actions that will reduce the level of proposed local tax increases. External influences will wreak havoc and you can count on unforeseen internal influences popping up. Reduce overhead. Liquidate real assets competitively to reduce the local burden on Mpls. property tax payers. Happy Holidays! Michael Hohmann Linden Hills > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > Dean Carlson > Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 9:31 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Mpls] Downtown Shopping > > > Interesting article in the Star Tribune about shopping downtown: > > http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/3537000.html > > We went to our annual christmas downtown excursion tonight. It was pretty > bleak. Very few people, the Marshall Fields Christmas show was > lame, prices > slashed everywhere (great for the wallet). By far the most disappointing > experience downtown at Christmas ever. Hope it was just a bad > night, not a > trend. > > Dean Carlson > East Harriet, Ward 10 snip _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
