Weekend Snowstorm Caused Consumer Spending to Fall by Almost Half in the East

Most New Yorkers and others in the East have probably been most focused on the woes caused by their snowbound streets. But, a big side effect of the blizzard that struck parts of the Midwest on Christmas Eve and then barreled into the East was a huge drop in average consumer spending, according to a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 26-27.

Average daily spending by consumers for the two days after Christmas -- when many shoppers make a second run at the stores -- dropped in the East from $89 during the period of Dec. 19-22 to $48, a decline of 46 percent.

The impact of bad weather in the Midwest was even more pronounced, even if scenes from there didn't match the pictures from the New York area. Average daily spending in the Midwest fell 55 percent, from $100 in the period before Christmas to $45 in the two days after the holiday.

By contrast, average daily consumer spending in the South fell by only 5 percent, from $104 to $99, and by 11 percent in the West, from $107 to $95.

Gallup says these figures are based on Americans' self-reports of the total amount they spent the prior day in stores, restaurants, and online, not including homes, vehicles, or their normal monthly bills.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that ShopperTrak, which monitors business at the nation's malls, said the snowstorms probably reduced business for the two post-Christmas days by about $1 billion in the Northeast, but that retailers would probably recover much of the sales during the balance of the holiday week.