A friend of mine knows a man who has owned a sign shop for the past 20 or so years. He tells me that his friend “The Sign Man” can predict when the economy is going to tank: “For Sale” and “For Lease” orders spike.
Same can be said for presidential elections. To wit, this souvenir shop owner in D.C, says sales of Obama memorabilia is down… waaaay down.
Downtown shopkeepers and cart vendors near the Mall said last week that Obama-related sales had significantly slowed – in part because of a traditional August tourism lull, in part due to the president’s sagging approval ratings.
“Come in here next year, and I can predict who will win the election,” said Dexter Morse, 45, a manager at the Washington Welcome Center at 1005 E Street NW, a popular destination for tourists and souvenir shoppers. “The last election, we had news crews from around the world, and customers too, all wondering why we had marked down our McCain-Palin stuff in October, before Election Day. The answer was sales.
We blew the Obama stuff out. Just from that, we knew he would win.”
Read the whole thing. It’s a hoot.
