I came across this chart from The Business Insider yesterday and thought it was very telling. If you hear the stories, you would think that Christmas shopping for the Black Friday weekend were off of the charts. I was talking to a cashier at Best Buy on Black Friday (in the evening I might add) and he said there over 2,000 people lined up outside when they opened the doors.

I was in Wal-Mart that same day around 11:30. I asked the cashier how the crowds were that day because it looked pretty dead to me. She said there were mad crowds between the sale hours that lead up to 11:00.

The crowds are there this year. However, as the chart shows, people are just not spending money. As you can see, the average dollar spent is way off from last year’s levels and more like the levels back in 2005.

When it is all said and done, this is going to be a much different consumer shopping season than we have seen in years.

Tags: black friday, Bob Brooks, Christmas shopping