Thanks @zer0hedge great work.
Well it's bad situation, I saw very few people in the malls in December. Even the Sales after Christmas attracted people only for the real bargains. What the stores normally do is have a few loss leader items, then some still good bargains but profit makers for when they sell out of the best stuff and people still buy something similar. Wasn't happening. If the loss leaders had gone, people left. I know because the pallets full of the second grade stuff were all over the shops. They deliver at regular intervals, and rely on sales to clear space for the next deliveries, as they don't have the storage space these days. I spent a half hour chatting to the stockroom supervisor, as the bargain I wanted appeared to have hidden itself and they went looking for it. Took 'em that long to find it because of the problem just described.