Black or Red?

My daughter and I did a bit of shopping this afternoon, aka Black Friday.  We drove north to Melbourne, Florida, about 25 miles from home.  From the looks of things this may well be a black day in quite another way.  The origin of the name comes from retailers going from the red to the black, from loss to profit.  Though the mall was busy, it didn't appear to be any more so than any other weekend.  We stopped in Circuit City to pick up an item I had ordered on line.  I had expected a huge line, but I walked right up to the register.  We went to Best Buy to get a couple of DS games for her, and again I was surprised by the lack of people in line.  We were fourth.  

Now both CC and BB did have lots of customers in the store, but compared to recent years it was obvious that business was off.  Much to my delight, one very hot item was the eeePC, on sale for $279 with linux os.  Lots of people seemed interested, and smiles were evident when they got there hands on one.  They went quickly, too.

So this recession may be deepening, but not unexpectedly.