If economists were praying for a teen-led consumer spending surge this Holiday season, the October retail numbers have surely shaken their faith. Analysts are calling the teen apparel numbers for October- a traditionally slow month, admittedly- a "big disappointment". Preppy icon Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 39% drop in profit, and is bleeding market share to most cost concious retailers like Aeropostale.

Digging into the numbers reveals a bit of a jumble. Same store sales are up over last year in many cases, but analysts warn that those numbers are up from the economic abyss that was last October- when the country was still reeling from the credit crunch and the Presidential election was still on the line. In short, things are better than last year, but that's like saying a hernia is better than loosing your leg to a great white shark attack.

The worst part is that for a minute there, it looked like things were going to be okay. From Bloomberg:

U.S. consumer spending in September dropped for the first time in five months, according to Commerce Department data. Spending fell 0.5 percent after a 1.4 percent jump in August. Consumer confidence in October also declined. The jobless rate reached a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September.

After the jump, video games bring a bright spot... sort of...

By: Hae-Ok Miller and Nick Bellizzi

H. John’s Clothiers, a family-owned business in Oakland, CA, became another casualty of the recession. It closed its doors October 31 after 76 years in business. Youth Radio takes an intimate look into a shop that’s lasted three generations, the people who kept it going, and the reasons it can’t survive the times-- even while the neighborhood around it seems to thrive.

Last year, there was a 1$ McChiken eating retail boy living in New York who became one of this year's music icons. For all those with dreams of one day trading your 9 to 5 for your art, listen to Kid Cudi's words. Kid CuDi debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day available September 25.

I’ve never had $5,000 a year to spend at the mall, but that’s the average amount teens spend per year on retail, or at least it was. A new study from Piper Jaffray says teen spending is down 14 percent this year. My friend Rose Powell and I know all to well about cutting back, “Now we definitely go, oh we should go do this. And then the first question is always like, how much does that cost?”