Unless you have been living under a rock these days you know the economy is doing poorly. Circuit City went from recovery to chapter eleven. Both Wal-Mart and Best Buy have predicted a dismal Christmas shopping season. Online retailers waging price wars as sales shrink. As bad as all of this may sound , it could mean good things for gamers.

The economic woes for this holiday season for retailers are many. Take this email we received warning of gift card buying.

FYI. These and other gift cards will not be valid as stores close. Be careful about buying gift cards…

Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the gift cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as ‘Bankruptcy Planning.

Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down specialty stores

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)

Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard’s to close some stores

Granted not many of those places sell video games but it is very telling that this many well known brands are closing this many doors. We have also hit a deflationary period pushing prices further down.

This Friday is “black friday”. It is the day that all retailers exit the red and turn a profit (hence the name). If this Friday turns out to be a big of a bummer for retailers as they fear, or worse, we could see some significant price cuts to digital media and it’s playing devices as early as Monday. Sony has released info on an upcoming price cut in march, which may be pushed forward to counter act a poor holiday shopping season. Blu-ray sales, which have stagnated in recent months may also drop in price if this erosion continues. Even games may see a price drop. LittleBigPlanet and Mirror’s Edge which should have been blockbuster titles sold nowhere near projections in opening days.

If new game sales do poorly but gaming stores report brisk used system, used game, and used video sales, it may force other retailers, developers, studios, etc to lower prices to compete. They know what we all know. No matter how bad this holiday season is, next season is going to be worse, and they most definitely don’t want used media purchasing to become a long term trend.