"People are so scared they're starting to save."

[jeffrey]

While industry executives and shoppers will remember 2008 as the year the party ended, figure 2009 to be the year of the hangover. Already, Circuit City, Linens 'N Things and Mervyn's stores are going away. Sharper Image is too, though the company will continue to sell some of its high-end gadgets through license agreements with other retailers.

More pain is on the way. One-third of U.S. women recently surveyed by America's Research Group said they plan no clothing purchases--none--in 2009. Normally, it's just 4%. That means the market is still far too saturated with stores.

Expect closings and bankruptcies to rattle the likes of Lane Bryant, Gap, and Starbucks. It's the inevitable counterpunch to the days of retailers fighting hand over fist for market share during an era of loose credit and minuscule interest rates...

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106466/Where-You-Won%27t-Shop-in-2009

[rob62521]

I'm wondering if they are truly saving or just not spending because they don't have the money. This list of possible closures is getting downright frightening!

[Bernz]

We're back to the basics....cash is king. A friend of mine suggested to me the other night to put some of my cash money into the safe deposit box.

[Chris____]

how to create a depression

[i]While industry executives and shoppers will remember 2008 as the year the party ended, figure 2009 to be the year of the hangover. Already, Circuit City, Linens 'N Things and Mervyn's stores are going away. Sharper Image is too, though the company will continue to sell some of its high-end gadgets through license agreements with other retailers.

Wow. Seeing some of the big names fall is like stepping in a cold, unexpected puddle.

I can think of a nearby shopping metropolis, this sprawling low-slung city of rectangular box buildings... from the sky, it probably looks like a bunch of beige legos crammed against each other with just enough room for cars between them.

Going there always had a sense of "bustle," of energy - so much money changing hands.

I remember just where the Circuit City, Linens N' Things and Mervyn's are; within a few blocks of each other. I can picture them crumbling, their square roofs collapsing flat to the ground in a puff of dust.

This sort of rattles your sense of reality, and makes you want to constrict. It is funny how it triggers this response of "I want to save cash and protect myself" ---

Yet everybody saving at once is what makes for a good depression, if not a great one.

[boosami]

All those extra people saving their money mean I have to spend MORE to make up for it so the economy doesn't die. See? It's not my fault I have $100,000's in credit card debt... It's my obligation to save the global economy.