Retailers hurting?

This past week I think I got more e-mail advertisements for in store and online sales for Black Friday, Saturday extreme sales, and cyber Monday. Makes me wonder...retailers must be really worried about this upcoming Christmas season. Even more so I've been getting a lot of coupon e-mails for Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and Restoration Hardware. Makes me think that a lot of the high end stores are seeing a significant drop in sales or are predicting a hard Christmas season. I watch a video on money.cnn.com that Whole Foods was hurting too and their stock has taken a significant hit. Then on the flip side Wal-mart's stock is up 10% YTD. I believe by the end of the first quarter of next year, if things don't improve with our economy, that you'll see one or more of the high end retailers I mentioned above going out of business.

As for me and my family...we are taking advantage of these deals and making upgrades to our house due to the discount we are getting on products and services. Like Warren Buffet says, "be greedy when others are fearful, and be fearful when others are greedy."

Are you taking advantage of these deals or are you holding off purchases until after Christmas?