More shoppers head to discount stores

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2008 | by Jayne O'Donnell

First in a series of reports on how the slowing economy is touching people across the USA.

With fears of recession hanging over the nation, Kimberly Washington has begun to steer clear of her usual retail haunts -- Macy's, The Limited, Ann Taylor Loft.

Unless there's a clearance sale, "The prices are just too high for me." Her favorites now? T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Ross Dress for Less.

"I can find good-quality merchandise at lower prices than in some regular stores," Washington, a legal editor from Stone Mountain, Ga., says of the off-price retailers.

Her shopping habits seem to fit a broader pattern. The weaker the economy gets, it seems, the more some discounters benefit and the bleaker the outlook for their higher-priced competitors....