American's Buying Store Brand Goods

Stores like Wal-mart that sell goods for typically lower prices are seeing an increase in sales of their own name brand goods. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, American's are buying cheaper goods because of their knowledge of the falling economy. The sales on SUV's and trucks has also been on a steady decline, while purchasing fuel efficient cars has been on the rise. American's are trying to save money any way they can, knowing the worst is still to come. In the article it was mentioned that discount stores saw a sales jump of 6% last month. It also mentioned that the use of coupons has increased. With American's trying to save their money or at least spend it more wisely, will this strategy help them in the short run or the long run? Will this end up helping or hurting the economy? Also, is this making the discount stores that has seen extreme growth in the past months help to completley wipe out the other once competitive stores?