Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
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It's charitable to use the word 'dismal,' ... It's a reflection both of the weather and the contraction of the economy, and it really seems to have hit everybody.
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So far I think he has done quite well under very difficult and trying circumstances, ... He's making the store more appealing and easier to shop, and has been reviewing the product mix for the last several months now and we have seen some very favorable shopper response.
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Sharper Image products also evoke the desire in customers to buy them. Granted that a $1,800 massage chair may not appeal to someone who just lost their job, but one reason that these kinds of high-end gadgets are in demand is exactly because some people want to pamper themselves and take their mind away from that kind of reality.
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The jobs situation is still not resolved. Across several industries, inventories are rising, and we're seeing that consumers are trading down. That's an indicator that people are not beset with worries but they are turning cautious.
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Their sales are terrible and their efforts to come up with newness that appeals to consumers and brings them back into the stores are failing. There's absolutely no indication that they have found a road back to health, and while they have very little debt, they do have too many stores. With that kind of a background, it's not difficult to envision a bankruptcy in the foreseeable future.
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It will lend luster to the mall, ... This means Indianapolis has the demographics to support a Tiffany.
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They are now getting into the apparel business in a way they have not known before -- in a way that establishes Sears Roebuck as a major operation in apparel.
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They are good merchants. They have a knack for listening to the customer.
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They were tepid. They give clear indication that Americans are far from ready to go on buying binges,
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What the Gap is doing is not only what it must be doing, but what it should have done a long time ago.
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What's happening is very simple. The numbers we saw today are clear evidence that the American public is shell-shocked to the point of being frightened over a big long list of circumstances surrounding the economy over which they have no power, no control.
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Upscale stores have done very well because their customers have been fortunate to amass a bit of wealth, so they're not worried about their jobs. But people who live paycheck to paycheck have to be careful, and they look at the price tag before looking at the product.
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There is spotty evidence that in some stores inventories are running low, but considering that the action that's in the stores is not particularly hot these days, that (low inventories) may not be the worst possible fate. In many cases a lot of stores reduced the orders they placed, and in some cases, canceled orders, which is exactly what's happening.
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What Sept. 11 has done to the economy is to accelerate, hasten and deepen the decline, but the decline existed before. The attack gave it the extra push in terms of retail sales. If you don't have a paycheck coming in, it doesn't matter how much cost of gasoline has gone down.