Sales still not helping

Are the holiday retail sales getting you out of the house to go buy buy buy? According to this year's numbers consumers continue not to spend money on items they deem as unnecessary saving for articles such as food, gas, etc. We rarely ever have sales in my store to avoid being classified as discount, but this season alone we've had two in an effort to get people in the door to spend. This week in my city Banana Republic had a 40% off of everything in the store for one day only sale. I've lumped myself in the group of folks who are hanging on to their every dime, but 40% off of everything I had to check it out! A lot of their items were already marked down and the catch to this new sale was that the 40% would only apply to regular priced items. I only found one thing that I felt I couldn't live without and it was a coat already marked down from $225 to $119.99 My friend accompanying me talked me out of the purchase but as soon as it's marked under $100 it's mine. Aldo shoes announced a one-day sale for this weekend only in my city that includes additional markdowns. The desperation on retail's face is depressing, and my store's numbers are even more depressing.