The state of the nation’s economy is in shambles, and is affecting virtually every American.  People are going out less, thus spending less.  When they do, it seems like, at least according to the media, and monthly sales reports, people are going to the Wal-Marts & Filenes Basements of the world, thus staying away form the mid-tier, and luxury priced stores.  In September, the Commerce Department’s monthly retail sales figures show a decline in spending for cloths is lower then last year, 18,801 million, compared to 19,244 million a year ago.

I went out today to see for myself what is going on in a few high traffic-shopping areas, The Prudential Center in the Back Bay, and Downtown Crossing, in one of Americas’ biggest, and most expensive cities, Boston.  This is an unofficial observation, based on what I experienced on what could be considered being an average Saturday fall afternoon.

First, I went to the Prudential Center.  I briefly spoke with a manager at Club Maoaco, with no sale signs in sight, who told me she has seen a definite downturn in business.  I also went to Levenger, and noticed some sales there, such as pens, on sale for 1/3 the retail price.

Not everyone is saying they are noticing any different.  The manager of Johnston & Murphy told me since they are in the Boston market; they still remain strong, especially because of the tourists.

The last place I went to was Macy’s, in Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood.  For those of you not from the Boston area, it is a shopping district in the heart of Downtown, wedged around the Financial District, Chinatown, and the Theatre District.  Granted, the neighborhood has been in decline in recent years, before the word sub-prime was on the news nightly.  The flagship Filenes store closed, after Macys bought the franchise, thus demolishing the building as well.  The Macy’s downtown location is across the street from Filenes.  The Flagship Filenes Basement closed as well when it failed to relocate from the lower level of the Filenes building.  The Barnes & Noble also closed about a year ago.

The store had a fairly good crowd, but I have seen bigger on a non-working day, excluding Christmas.  All the sales tags I saw says the story.  It seems like Macy’s always has something on sale, but normally not on the number of items I saw this weekend.  Sports jackets normally $250 going for $100, suits for $500 going for $150.  There were a couple of people from England who were shopping for some cloths there, safe to assume they are taking advantage of the exchange rate.