At the entrance to almost every shopping mall in the country, you will find a directory that, if you are spatially coordinated, will give you an approximate lay of the land. But you will be no closer to discerning what drives the modern youth from one store to the next; what differentiates one’s frayed cargo shorts from another’s; or why one of them, Abercrombie, is facing a consumer revolt, while others are paradoxically upbeat. A clue: It has to do with price.  (more…)

“The world is a strange place right now,” a salesman on the main floor at Bergdorf Goodman said as shoppers pawed through handbags piled on counters like discount merchandise at Century 21. “It’s off its axis.” The handbags, like a lot else at the Fifth Avenue retailer, had been marked down 40 percent and are likely to go lower as seasonal sale days wear on. There is nothing new about retailers cutting prices at holiday time, and the discounts have been especially deep in this recessionary year. But few in the luxury goods trade can recall a time when the price-slashing started so soon or was so severe. “What I hear at every level of retail is that no one has ever experienced anything like this in their careers,” said Ken Downing, the fashion director of Neiman Marcus. Oh boo friggin’ hoo. Who in their right mind would price an ordinary purse for $3,000 or a pair of boots for $2,000? This is a market correction that women everywhere can cheer about.  (more…)