June 9, 2008, less merchandise because of gas prices

Since I drive a Honda Civic with good gas mileage, the gas prices haven't affected me as directly as they have others. But something else that is an indirect affect of the prices has affected me. Stores aren't stocking as much merchandise as they have in the past. I don't know if they're just not ordering as much because it costs too much to pay for it, or if trucks are making fewer deliveries.
Some of the effects of higher prices began to take effect several months ago. For instance, I visited the outlet malls in Jeffersonville and Washington Court House, Ohio, in February. My two favorite places were the Liz Claiborne store at Jeffersonville and the Linen Outlet at WCH. The Linen Outlet was already gone in February, and when I visited the malls again two weekends ago, the Liz store was gone. I also noticed that some of the other clothing stores were either gone and had been replaced by places that sell "stuff" or the clothing stores that were there had more leftovers than they've had in the past. Needless to say, I didn't buy as much as I usually do.
Locally, I cannot find three items in grocery or convenience stores. I got coupons in the mail for the new GE energy-saving light bulbs, and I cut coupons out from the newspaper for a new Jell-O dark chocolate pudding and Scrubbing Bubbles pump spray. I've been in a number of Krogers and other convenience stores, and none of them has these items. In fact, the places where this merchandise should be have empty shelving!
Lastly, Kohl's had an ad for a chain with a butterfly pendant on it. There were also some other similar items in this ad. The clerk at the local Kohl's said that the store never got the butterfly necklace. It also barely had the other jewelry in the ad.
Before you think I've been driving around wasting gas looking for these things, I was just going in them when I was in the area anyway.