Retail is suffering these days, as chronicled by Daniel Gross in Newsweek. Just like there may be loads of empty McMansions sitting around soon, there is an ever-increasing amount of "McStrip" retail space going empty too.According to Gross, extreme consumption has triggered a backlash. Judith Levin, author of Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, says, "There's a glut of stores, our physical, intellectual and emotional and psychological space is filled up with consumption." We're all buying less and of course, the Freegans take it to the extreme.
Even as the stores and portions of our economy suffer, there are real benefits to buying less stuff, for your wallet and for the earth. Less stuff, less junk that lands up in landfills, less resources that are consumed, less carbon emissions, the list goes on.
But don't get too excited. According to the column, frugality as a virtue only lasts as long as modern recessions do, about eight months and this "cultural anti-retail moment will likely pass." Darn.
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