Holiday spending up 6% year-over-year to $777 per person, per Visa's October survey.
What's interesting: over half want travel and live events more than stuff.
People are choosing experiences over things. That shift has been building since COVID, but it's now the dominant pattern.
Consumer spending isn't collapsing. It's just moving. The money's still there—it's flowing into flights, concerts, dinners out. The economy of memories.
Retail apocalypse narratives miss this. Americans aren't broke. They're just done with clutter.
What's interesting: over half want travel and live events more than stuff.
People are choosing experiences over things. That shift has been building since COVID, but it's now the dominant pattern.
Consumer spending isn't collapsing. It's just moving. The money's still there—it's flowing into flights, concerts, dinners out. The economy of memories.
Retail apocalypse narratives miss this. Americans aren't broke. They're just done with clutter.
