Liberty Phoenix

So I have a Christmas tradition of doing all my shopping on December 24th of each year. It's probably not a good idea to wait that long, but I find it motivating. I go to New York for the holidays and typically do my shopping in the Palisades Center. It's one of the largest malls in the Tri State area and gets very crowded as a result.

Typically, I'm lucky to even find a parking space. I usually have to drive around for 10 minutes until one opens up and the competition for spaces can be rather fierce. I've actually seen people run on foot from a lane over to lay down in an open space as I'm pulling into it. It's crazy. But this year, things were quite different.

Turning into the Target parking lot, I thought I was ready for anything after last year's insanity. But what I wasn't quite ready for was that I'd have my pick of spots. There were dozens of spots on the periphery, where I'm usually forced to park, but I was also able to easily find spots closer up. I didn't have to dodge people in the mall and the lines were relatively short. And of course, several of the stores I shopped in last year are now in bankruptcy, so I didn't have to waste my time in places like the Sharper Image or CompUSA.

So I guess that's the upside to the current economic calamity we're witnessing. Less waiting to buy things. Perhaps next year, I'll even be able to find a spot in the more crowded front parking lot. And now I have a decent indicator to judge when the economy finally starts to turn around again.