Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
lend means support
It will lend luster to the mall, ... This means Indianapolis has the demographics to support a Tiffany.
absent best both drives ease factors job jobs obtaining present retail sales until year
The thing that drives retail sales most and best is job availability and the ease of obtaining new jobs. Both of these factors are absent at the present time. It may not be until the end of the year that we see job growth.
consumer expect growing last quite research slow spending
All our surveys and research have demonstrated that consumer spending is very slow in growing and contracting. It resists change. We can expect this to last quite a while.
consumer disruption otherwise serious spending
This has become a very serious disruption in what could otherwise be a much better consumer spending climate,
bites business buy mainly market mature people primarily represents share sneakers taking wear
They are taking big bites of market share out of the sneakers. The sneaker business is a mature business that represents primarily a replacement mode. People mainly buy sneakers when the old ones wear out.
ambience
The May contribution is going to be very substantial because of the in-house brands, displays, and ambience of the stores.
april information retail sales somewhat
All I can tell you is that we've had some information that April retail sales were somewhat disappointing for some chains,
background days economic home inclined instead people rely salary street themselves waiting wall
People are more inclined these days to make themselves rely on one salary instead of waiting for a Wall Street home run, and that is the background of the economic environment.
achieved deep gross heavy help pressure reflected relatively retail sales
Most retail sales were relatively decent, but were achieved with the help of deep markdowns which will show up as heavy pressure on gross margins, and that is going to be reflected in the earnings,
achieved below decent disastrous fall holiday levels people sales season year
No one should come to the conclusion, as some people have already done, that this is going to be a disastrous holiday sales season for retailers. For most, it's going to be a decent sales season, but it will fall for most below the levels achieved a year ago.
activity early full last levels lower retailers selling store surprised traffic year
Early indications show that store traffic and the promotional activity is at lower levels than last year at this time. I wouldn't be surprised if many retailers try to get away with selling merchandise at full price.
christmas coming difficult gross half impossible likely moment pressure puts retailers second tremendous weak
The first half is going to be a very, very difficult one, and at this moment it's going to be impossible to say how the second half is going to be, ... The second half is likely to be better than the first, but remember, most retailers are coming off a very weak Christmas and that puts tremendous pressure on gross margins.
christmas decisions developing foundation jamming people trying
People will be jamming the stores, trying things on, ... and developing their Christmas lists. While many (gift) decisions will not be made, the foundation for many decisions will be made.
bottom checks effect hurt itself nightmare results retailers tax worst
The worst part of these results is that they show that the effect of the tax rebate checks has petered out. This is a nightmare in itself for retailers and it doesn't bode well for Christmas. Also, we'll probably see more markdowns now, more than retailers anticipated for the holidays. That will hurt their bottom line.