It was a surreal experience.
The stores in downtown Montreal are empty.
There is no street traffic.
I went to two shopping malls. And they are 1/5 of what I have seen in the past during this time of year.
Everything is also marked down to price levels that I have never seen.
Clothes', shoes, coats, gloves. Everything is super cheap. A Kanuk winter coat that normally goes for $900 was marked down to $300. I had to restrain myself from not going crazy and buying everything.
It looks like everyone is positioning themselves to get rid of their inventory. Even at a loss.
I saw no seniors. Most of the people in the malls were kids and young adults.
No one was carrying shopping bags.
The only stores that I saw that were busy were Walmart. The Dollar Store. Costco. The liquor stores. The "pot" shops (marijuana is legal here). The large super markets and the pharmacies.
It was sad to see all of my favorite restaurants either closed or only handling take-out. I doubt many of these places are going to survive in the coming months.
You do not need to be an economist to know that the retail/dining/and entertainment sectors of the economy have collapsed.
It is going to take years to recover from this disaster.
And while some people are going to do well, I would say about half of the population are going to face hard and difficult times in 2021 and beyond.
On a bright note. The person who sells Christmas trees in my suburb closed a few days ago. For the first time ever he sold his entire stock two weeks before Christmas.
