Yeah…that’s me giving the fake, melodramatic reaction to the Give-A-Show Projector my older sister received for Christmas in, I think, 1969.

Today I had one of those “Wow!” reactions. I haven’t experienced last minute, day-before-the-night-before-Christmas, crowds of power shoppers like I did this afternoon. Over the last couple of days, I’ve been struck by the huge volume of inventory that exists on retail shelves and racks and took it as a sign that this was NOT going to be a very happy holiday for retailers. Markdowns and sales are already occuring, stores like Marshall Field’s have cheerfully announced that “We’re Open until 7pm on Christmas Eve!” (an unprecedented move), and anecdotally most of my friends, family and acquaintences are spending less on higher quality items this year (i.e., less total stuff is being jammed under the tree).

So what’s going on?

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