We are retired and living on a fixed income. I have no problem with just buying neccesaties but maybe some people do.

You can eliminate a lot of fast foods from your diet, pricey cereals and even some meat. I hate to bring this up "when I was young" but I remember eating oatmeal for breakfast, and sometimes canned peaches or canned tomatoes with sugar for lunch. Also peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and I never developed malnutrition. However, we did get a lot of vegetables,most canned.

Retail stores should have seen this coming for awhile. With too pricey goods and expensive electronics, no one wants to buy these unless an appliance goes out.

WallMart and Target should give them an idea (and some pricey supermarkets too) an idea of what costumers want. Not pricey cheese and kitchen condiments but just the basics.

People should concentrate on the basics and demand a quality american made products. We should revolutionize the way we produce, consume and dispose our waste. We have become a culture obsessed with cheep junk. If we could only go back to quality and cut the crap, we would be much better off in the long run. We should place value in what is good for the human race and less for simple insignificant desires.

I have gone back out feeding my family the way my parents fed us as kids. Hamhocks and beans, stew, chicken and milk gravy,etc. All of the comfort foods. They are better for us than fastfood. In fact I find my children asking me to cook rather than going out to eat because frankly it does not taste that good and the portions you get are so small for your money and you are hungry an hour later. We always have leftovers to reheat or take in lunches the next day. This also saves my children form having to eat the horrible school lunches that have also gone down hill over the years.

For years I had to be thrifty becuase I was a single income Mom. I have not been hit hard by the latest madness but find my years of having to get my have helpled me more than every hurt me. I still shop at Thrift Stores and find it a fun and relaxing, don't go expecting anything and you often find clothing with tags still on them or useful household items. As mentioned by others, cook in more, I rarely eat fast food and a restraunt is a once in a while treat.

Does anyone find it weird that the malls closed at 6 on New Years Day? I was in the Provo Town Center mall and it was packed yet everyone closed shop. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. What is the logic for closing early on New Years Day? I can see doing it for Eve but Day? Maybe if the retailers pulled there heads out and recognized when they should be open and when they shouldn't they could maybe make a little extra money.

I work in retail and trust me people are in the mall because they are returning items, not because they are buying. I look forward to the days when where I work close early after the holidays, I need a little time off to recover from all of those returns.

I didn't see long lines for returns...I saw people shopping.....

I, too, work in retail and also appreciate when my store closes early on a holiday so that I, too, can enjoy some holiday time with my family. Those stores that closed at 6 today were open since 9, 10, or even 11 in the a.m. plenty of time for those who wanted to shop to go and do some shopping. There are less than a handful of days where retail stores close or shorten their hours in a year, and New Year's happens to be one of them.

I feel for you working a holiday, but you signed up for that possibility when you took the job. I also do not like it when a store is not open when I need it to be. It doesn't make sense in these times. I go where the item is, and if Walmart and Target are open instead of the mall, then they get my money. My dentist is only open 3 days a week which includes half a day on Friday. I am presently looking for a new one. I don't have time to 'schedule' my life around his skiing or golf adventures. He who caters to the buyer wins.