Walking around SoHo today I witnessed something that the whole world has been talking about for quite some time now; a recession. You don't even have to be paying attention to hear the loud echo of sale throughout the streets, some as serious as "going out of business". As soon as you get off of the train you are slapped in the face with a huge advertisement for just another store fighting not even to make a profit off of the failing economy but just to break even. The SoHo blocks were more crowded than usual, they were filled with the usual mix of foreign and domestic shoppers trying to take advantage of the unbelievable prices. Hordes of people pile and and filter out of stores having big sales like Uniqlo; a store who's clothes never sported big price tags to begin with. While others seem not to be experiencing the same reaction from the consumers, stores like Lounge, who due to losing their lease is now going out of business and selling everything in the store for 50% off of the ticketed price. The only problem is that Lounge has a habit of marking up the price of their goods so the 50% isn't really doing much to persuade a knowledgeable consumer to purchase the goods from them when they know that they can go elsewhere and get it even cheaper. For those of you who aren't getting beat into a corner by the current market conditions this is an opportune time for you to get busy with the Christmas list, for you this year is historically the easiest year to be generous.
If I were CEO of a clothing company I would send out a memo: Our theme for the holiday is Recession! So our next sales event is going to be appropriately titled "Recessionary Sale".
SoHo
