It feels like 09/11 again. There are very few people calling or coming in the stores. Retail furniture stores look like ghost towns. I'm getting calls from suppliers begging for orders. Trucking companies are making fewer runs, tell me they don't have full loads. Classic signs of a marked slowdown in the furniture industry which began right after Labor Day. This is High Season, and no one is shopping. Folks are spooked, and if it continues like this there are going to be a whole lot of failures in stores and suppliers in the next few months, as many were just treading water already. I've not seen this slow a Fall season since 2001.

Its to be expected, I'm sure. You can't go 15 minutes without reading about some implosion on the financial markets. Right now its hitting Wall Street, but in 90 days if something doesn't break the cycle it will be hitting Main Street with a vengeance.