by Laura Conaway

David writes from Spokane:

I think the biggest indicator yesterday was the fact that I could easily find a parking space at the local mall on Sunday afternoon, three days after Thanksgiving. Generally during this time there is a type of ballet/rally race/arm wrestling competition to see who can successfully follow a shopper out of the front door of the mall to their car. I can't believe that we won't see really really bad numbers coming out of the 4th quarter.