Paige Desmond
There’s no stopping Christmas shopping.
Despite news last week that Ontario’s unemployment rate had jumped to 7.1 percent in November, local shoppers said the recession has had little effect on their buying patterns this holiday season.
A tour through local stores found customers with little worry—despite one retailer’s observation that sales are down this year.
“We’re retired so it’s not really affecting us,” said one shopper at Canadian Tire.
A grandmother, she called Wal-Mart every day for a week to make sure she could snag “Guitar Hero” for the Nintendo Wii console.
Though she added, “The kids have everything,” so her shopping list was a short one this season.
A survey released by the Consumer Conference Board of Canada found consumer confidence took a major hit last month. Consumer confidence reflects the optimism, or lack thereof, consumers have in the economy as exemplified through their spending and saving.
It fell so dramatically, in fact, that similar levels have not been seen since Canada’s last recessions in 1982 and 1990.
“The ongoing troubles in equity markets undoubtedly had a negative effect on consumers’ view of their family financial situations and future job prospects in their communities,” read a press release from the board.
But residents here weren’t reflecting that sentiment as they shopped last week.
“Nope, not at all,” responded one shopper when asked if the recession has impacted his Christmas budget. His big “have to get” gift this year was an iPod docking station.
Laughing, another local admitted he has yet to start checking items off his list, though he plans to purchase a laptop computer as his big gift this year.
He, too, said the economy will not impact holiday spending, though the state of the global recession is in the back of his mind.
“I am thinking about it,” he admitted.
Indeed, while the conference board reported a major decline in consumer confidence, Statistics Canada numbers for September actually showed decent sales.
Overall, retail sales were up 5.6 percent for that month from 2007.
