Okay. Now I'm freaking out a little bit.

[readmoreoften]

I've been going to "National Faux Upscale-Trendy Mass Retailer Plus Grocery Store Big Box" and the shelves have been partially empty for months. There were only two small lines of buyers on a weekend evening a few days before Christmas. I figured it was just this one chain. (I think another DUer blogs about this chain, in fact.) But tonight I went to "National Business Supply and Print Shop annexed by National Overnight Shipping Agency." I've been to this particular store many-a-time since 2003.

Tonight it was, I'd say, less than 35% stocked. Whole sections were empty. The sections that weren't empty had a few items spread out across them. One shelving unit (4 shelves) had nothing and the next unit (also 4 shelves) had 12 thin packages of DVD 25-packs set along the edges. They'd just take one item and spread it into every area to make the store look fuller. All the stationary was gone. There were even some empty spaces in the CANDY area by the register where boxes used to be. All the ink was gone. About 20% of the card spinner was empty.

Perhaps this particular store (a 24 hour location) is going out of business. I asked the girl at the counter why the store was empty and she said "oh, they just took everything out to inventory it" (???)

It was a little like a disaster movie.