Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
area badly goes greatly magazines pull suffer
One area that could suffer greatly may be her magazines because advertisers will pull out if this goes badly for her.
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.
absolutely word
One word - dismal. There's nothing else to be said but absolutely dismal.
economic forces high jobs level low money people rate spending work year
There are two conflicting forces at work on the consumer. One is people have jobs, they have money, the unemployment rate is still at a 30-year low of 3.9 percent, a lot of economic circumstances are very, very favorable. A lot of economic circumstances are very, very favorable, people have money and jobs, but they don't have as high a discretionary spending level as they did a year ago.
eye market needs pleasant stores toward
What J.C. Penney needs to do is to make the stores they do have palatable, pleasant to shop, and all of this needs to be done with an eye toward recapturing the market they've lost,
burdened car gas looking money news people prices suddenly taking target
With gas prices the way they are and with people suddenly being burdened with monthly car payments, they are looking for bargains. People are taking their money from Bloomingdale's to Penney, Kohl's (NYSE: KSS - news ) and Target (NYSE: TGT - news ).
bargain cautious discount hunting money saving seeing spending stores stretching
What we are seeing is that consumers' cautious spending is now stretching to the low-priced discount stores as well as to the other stores. ...Today, saving money is chic. Bargain hunting is fashionable.
apple biting clear create exciting looking market necessary needed order path sour steps strong terribly
What we are looking at is very strong and very necessary steps as the first installment of a Kmart turnaround, ... What he's doing right now is terribly important. It needed to be done, biting into the sour apple so to speak, in order to create a clear path for the future. I think Kmart is going to be customer-centric in the future, competitive in the market place and exciting to shop.
convinced core credit deliver devote finally impressive next resources results rid sales six slump stuck true
While it's true that Sears is stuck in a sales slump for a long time, the retailer has also been in a restructuring mode, ... By getting rid of the credit business, it can finally devote all its resources to its core business. I'm convinced Sears will deliver impressive results in the next six to 12 months.
cautious customers display full incite less profits reached retail windows
When the full story is reached at the end of the quarter, retail profits will be less impressive, especially in apparel. There was nothing in the display windows (of clothiers) to incite cautious customers to buy.
bit customers fortunate looking paycheck people price stores tag wealth worried
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.
action cases evidence exactly hot orders possible reduced running stores worst
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.
attack coming cost decline economy economy-and-economics existed extra gasoline gave gone hasten matter paycheck push retail terms
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.
consumer continues department discount shift specialty spending stores strong
There has been, and continues to be, a strong shift of consumer spending away from traditional department stores and specialty stores over to discount stores.