Consumers Still Spending On One Thing: Gadgets

Did you go shopping this holiday weekend? I did. Apparently a lot of people did.

I was down on the Mag Mile in Chicago during a March snow storm (driving winds, heavy snow/ice.) It didn’t deter hundreds of people from hanging out at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue.

The wait to check out was about 10 minutes.

I thought I was in a twilight zone episode (given the snow outside and the lines) and that it was really Christmas and not Easter.

Nope.

There really were 20 people waiting to buy iPods, iPhones, computers and assorted other gadgets.

I thought we were in a recession? You couldn’t tell by that store.

But maybe it’s not a good indicator of the economy, given the location of the store (the most heavily touristed street in Chicago) and that I did hear some accents among the customers (foreign tourists stocking up on things to take home at a 50% discount.)

But it wasn’t all accents overheard in the line.

Barron’s acknowledged the trend in an article this week on Best Buy. It started the article off with a few antecdotes of young men (in their early 20s) who rushed to the store to buy flat screen tvs and other video gadgets and games with their tax refunds.

That’s the American way!

What will they do with their stimulus checks? Hopefully buy more tvs!

The lure of the gadget is strong.

Conversely, I was also in some women’s clothing stores over the weekend and it was pretty much dead in those stores. One told me that the entire store was 25% off as soon as I walked in- even though there was no sign posted.

It’s mixed signals out there.

But the gadget realm seemed alive and well to me over the weekend.