The point at which shoppers stay home and save their money for gas, I mean. This amount no doubt varies depending on where you are, but I suspect the effect is the same for small business owners and their customers everywhere. Below a certain amount, people will get out and spend money; above it, everyone goes into a kind of siege mentality and stays home. The shopping public decides that they must horde whatever extra money they have to ensure they can buy gas (around here, for their big honkin SUVs, the dummies) so they can get to work and make more gas money. This is entirely appropriate and logical, since most people are pretty well screwed if they can't get to work! However, for small retailers like myself, it makes one question exactly at what point being open might become unaffordable.
We own an antique mall in SC, and for the last month or so (since gas prices dropped to the low 1.90's in anticipation of the election)business was the best it has been in, oh, years. Since Bush got in, anyway. We knew it wouldn't last, and we didn't want to really spend alot of time thinking about how bad it could get after Nov 7th, besides, we were too busy trying to make hay while the sun shone briefly on our little patch of retail heaven. So we rolled up our sleeves and got busy, and hoped it would last for a while after Nov 7th - which it did - for two days. By the 9th, gas was back up to 2.00 p/g, and our streets were deserted.
I have seen this cycle play out repeatedly over the last year, ever since Katrina drove gas prices out of sight. It becomes more pronounced with every repetition. It's just like someone turned off the money tap: the signs at the gas stations hit the 2.00 mark, and you are suddenly the Lone Ranger of Retail - and your cash drawer gets pretty lonesome too. Let the price drop to 1.99, and people are out, spending money. It's amazing the psychological difference a penny makes - and I assure you that I am not exaggerating.
So this line of thought inevitably leads one to wonder who will be getting the gravy at Christmas, the big retailers or the big oil companies? Or are they one and the same at this point? Will the PTB decide to throw the Little Man a Little Bone for the holidays, or will they decide that it is no longer necessary?