Well it’s the week before Christmas, or the week of Christmas rather, so it comes as no surprise that retail stocks were up Monday and Tuesday. But that can’t hold a candle to the $2 billion in lost sales retailers felt when a pretty blanket of snow covered the Northeast last weekend. Yeah, a White Christmas might sound nice to those off work, done shopping and baking snickerdoodles. But for retailers - and our economy - it sucked. (Not to mention the millions it costs the city, state and country every time it snows.) Delusional retailers are accelerating pre-xmas markdowns and apparently still trying to recoup lost sales.

But there is still a lot of shopping to be done from now until Christmas. What. Will. We. Buy?

We would help out Cabela’s, Cache, Delia’s, New York & Co., Quicksilver and American Apparel because they were in the evil red this week. (In the black crept unusual suspects Zale, Joe’s Jeans and Crocs because people either feel badly for these companies or actually still want them. Or they are on sale since they’ve continually been so red, which is likely a better argument.) But for serious, choose wisely this week as you make your last minute present purchases. What might not make a huge difference to a big department store, might mean the crux of the season for a smaller boutique struggling to get another, stay in Nolita or even survive. This isn’t to say that “the man” doesn’t need our business as well, but leave your larger purchases to someone it might make a difference for.

Oh, and Merry Christmas! We can’t wait to report on the outcome of this week… in shopping.

Emma Dinzebach

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