Posted by
Doc Stephens on Sunday, January 18, 2009 9:44:40 AM
An article appearing in the January 17th Highlands Today, reported “The liquidation of Circuit City is the latest fallout from the worst holiday shopping season in four decades.” In an online article, Reuters offered a similar pronouncement attributed to the International Council of Shopping Centers, the ICSC. Unfortunately, both the Reuters statement and newpaper report are completely false. In fact, the 2008 holiday season was the best holiday shopping season ever!
According to the ICSC, chain store sales for the 2008 holiday season exceeded sales of the 2007 holiday season by 1.7 percent. This is true even though the 2008 holiday shopping season was only 27 days long while the 2007 holiday shopping season extended for 32 days. The 2008 season was nearly 20 percent shorter than 2007 but still experienced a 1.7 percent increase in sales. Actually, chain store sales have increased in every year since the ICSC began publishing their index going back almost 40 years. The 2008 holiday season was the best ever—not the worst! Furthermore, the ICSC index does not include online sales which early reports indicated had increased by more than 7 percent over 2007. The current 1.7 percent increase estimated by the ICSC is the lowest annual increase since 2002, one year after 9/11, when November and December sales increased by only 0.5 percent over the previous year, but that was still an increase.
Many economists have claimed that panic contributed to the worsening of the current financial crisis. News stories and hyperbolic political talk during the fall presidential campaign both spread misinformation and resulted in exaggerated concerns about our economy.
We can all agree that the closing of Circuit City is very unfortunate for communities and for Circuit City employees all over the country. Hopefully, a more successful business will come forward as the economy rebounds--as it certainly will.
In the meantime, newspapers and other media should be called "mythmakers" because that is what they do best.