Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
beginning christmas consumer cost economy everybody exciting extra families far gas gasoline high landing less means month pump soft spending toll worried year
Everybody is worried about a soft landing for the economy and a contraction of consumer spending. And come Christmas it will be far less exciting than a year ago. The high cost at the gas pump is beginning to take its toll and for a lot of families spending an extra $20-to-$25 a month on gasoline means spending that much less on stores.
appealing circumstance difficult easier far favorable last mix months product quite reviewing seen several store trying
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.
buying clear far indication ready
They were tepid. They give clear indication that Americans are far from ready to go on buying binges,
becoming far kids
This has become far more important today. Kids are becoming more independent.
arab capture consumer extremely far iraq meaningful
His capture is extremely meaningful for Iraq and the Arab world, but as far as the U.S. consumer is concerned, it doesn't mean much.
ability absolutely balance buy certainly consumer convinced earning far freedom good hold job lose maybe next onto remain secure spend spending strong throughout
You know, Americans have jobs. Americans are earning money. They feel good about themselves. They feel secure in their ability to hold onto the job, and even if they lose the job they know they don't have to go too far to find another one, ... So they feel a sense of security, of freedom to go out and spend and buy and do things for themselves, and that is why we are absolutely convinced that consumer spending will remain strong certainly throughout the balance of this year, and ... maybe into next year.
comfort eventually far felt finally fourth holiday impact increases last predict rate retailing series since towards
We have had a series of rate increases since last year, and so far we have not felt any impact on retailing off all of these increases. However, eventually something will have to give. I would predict that, say towards the end of the year, the fourth quarter, the very all-important holiday fourth quarter, we are going to see that the rate increases will finally take a bite. And that could be a comfort to retailing.
against easier exuberant far favorable high level retailers slide suffering year
What we are suffering from is the slide from the exuberant high we had a year ago at a level that was completely unsustainable, ... I will also tell you retailers are going to be up against far more favorable numbers, easier numbers.
core profitable
It's not a core business, but (gardening) is a very profitable part of the business.
easier growing happens horizon shopping simply store
E-commerce is growing exponentially, and it is not at all unreasonable to think that simply because the store essentially, or a whole horizon of stores, happens to be right on your desk, that shopping is made so much easier than before,
blizzard major malls presidents serious shut since stores weekend
The blizzard was a serious setback for retailers, especially since the Presidents Day weekend is a major day for sales. Most of the malls and independent stores were shut in the Northeast.
add bigger business grow growth percentage smaller stores
The bigger it gets, the smaller the percentage growth will be. Let's say that when you add 10 new stores to 100 stores, you grow the business 10 percent. When you add 10 stores to 3,000 stores, the growth isn't obvious.
activity august basically figures labor reliable september time
The August figures this time are basically not very reliable for anything whatsoever. A lot of the Labor Day activity will come in September this year.
cash demand dollar means related signs tremendous
There's tremendous demand for anything related to gardening, horticulture. It means dollar signs at the cash register.