Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

I was just explaining to a friend about the recent downturns in the Department 56 retail market. I told him about how giftware such as Department 56 is more of a luxury and that in today's economy, people struggle to find disposable income for luxury items. He works for one of the major water distributors and he said they experience a similar downturn in a troubled economy. He suggested people will quickly turn to tap water if times get tight. I thought bottled water was more of a necessity because people are paranoid about public water, people like to carry sports bottles wherever they go, and I believed bottled water sales were booming. His contrasting opinion stated that the water industry takes even longer to bounce back than the giftware industry. At home, my wife and I went from two 24-packs of Poland Spring sports bottles per week to two 2.5 gallon plastic jugs to our current choice, a Brita water filter. Saves $5-6 per week. With our Department 56 purchases, we went from bu...