Retailers and manufacturers would likely consider me their ideal holiday customer. I spent 8 hours with my mom and sister shopping for deals on Black Friday, and the day after Christmas I was at it again.

To my surprise, I didn’t find much at all the day after Christmas and was rather disappointed. Macy’s shoe department pickings were slim, and it was hard to find my size in their outerwear section. Express was out of sizes in jeans unless you were a size 0 or 2. Dick’s had little to no selection in North Face jackets, and J. Crew’s shelves were practically bare.

Just today the Associate Press reported that retailers kept inventory so low that they are having to bring in new merchandise to fill the shelve space. It is certainly good news that retailers experienced slightly higher sales than expected (a 3.6 percent increase from last year), but it didn’t translate into great deals or savings for consumers. Bah humbug!