Holiday sales were lack luster to say the least. Companies that have historically enjoyed rosy results in the past have to settle for a ho-hum this year. Chains like Coach, Target, Starbucks and Abercrombie & Fitch sell very different products, at very different prices, yet these companies all shared the same bragging rights. Their customers considered them indispensable, even expressions of who they were. Apparently in our turbulent economy, the indispensable is becoming disposable.

By early December, the traditional start of the holiday buying rush, Coach, Target and Starbucks — arguably the reigning trendsetters among American retailers — warned that the number of consumers walking into their stores had begun to dip, or was likely to, as consumers restrained their spending.
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