The recession has changed New York City in many ways. The most obvious way is the drastic shift seen in the job market. Increased budget cuts has led to massive lay-offs that has resulted in a startling unemployment rate. Spearheading from this, our economy further suffers because citizens who are no longer employed have no money to spend, and those of us who do have jobs, are so tense and nervous that we are saving our money.
This viscous cycle leads to a spiraling economy or as The Daily Show calls it- Clusterf*ck to the Poor House.
There has however, been ONE positive consequence of this cycle — sales.
Walking down Madison Avenue, every store window says “Buy One Get One Free”, “Sale! Up to 70% off the Entire Store!”, “Store Closing- Everything Must Go!”. Although it is a bit scary, I can’t help but leap at the opportunity- after all, I can’t resist a bargain.
The other day I was in Banana Republic with my mom. We found a pair of pants for $11.99! Whether or not I really liked these pants was irrelevant, they were twelve bucks! Its like a pair of pants for the price of lunch! Geez, I thought, the Banana must really in trouble, because they are practically giving away clothes!
The discounts out there are so palpable, that you don’t even need to be a New Yorker to appreciate them. I spend the better part of my day at the office scouring the web for online discounts. Its abusurd! Absurd and scary. Absurd, scary, but also amazing! A few months from now and I’ll be able to afford Christian Louboutins!
As the discount percentages get higher and higher, and sale posters increasing by the day, the economy is suffering more and more. This bittersweet reality is what New Yorkers are living. So as I log into my fidelity account and track my 401k depleting, I can feed my depression by heading out to the latest DVF Sample Sale, or sucessfully purchasing my first pair of Manolo Blahniks.
Recession you say? “Recession” is looking at the glass half empty. I like to think of this “recession” as the “best damn shopping season we will ever see in our lifetime”.
