Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
deep itself question remains resolve trouble
There's no question that Kmart is in deep trouble, and how that trouble is going to resolve itself remains to be seen,
above companies competition difficult gear heads industry merger question rampant retailing
There's no question that competition in retailing is rampant and out of hand. It's getting increasingly difficult for companies to keep their heads above water. That's why the industry is getting into gear for more merger activity.
bargain consumers continue days hunt next question simply
There's no question it's been very anemic. Now the big question is, will the bargain hunt continue into the next 16 to 17 days before Christmas, or will consumers just simply go shopping?
above buy heavy normal question strong sweater wants weather
It's going to be a very, very strong day. No question about it. But the weather has me a little worried. The temperature has been way above normal and who wants to buy a heavy sweater when the temperature is 65 degrees?
name question wants whether
It's a question of whether Federated wants to revive the name brand.
anytime asking bombarded buying decent good head hear income jobs laid listen means number people question radio voice
Americans are being bombarded with announcements of layoffs. Anytime you listen to the radio it's always 3,000 laid off here, 500 there, ... That means a lot of people who have decent jobs and good income hear that little voice in the back of their head asking the question 'could my number be up next?' They're buying what they need, but they don't buy frivolously.
full line mind question store trying
They are streamlining operations, trying to make it more profitable, productive, ... The real question to my mind is how can they be a full line store without cosmetics?
attractive pay question stores terms ultimately
I think ultimately they will do better than they have done in some years, ... There's no question the much more attractive stores will pay off in terms of improvement, but will they be able to come through with big earnings? The jury's still out.
gap time
What the Gap is doing is not only what it must be doing, but what it should have done a long time ago.
clear economy evidence frightened happening list numbers point public saw today
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.
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.
companies consumer controls decent demand difficult economic evidence good however inventory nobody orders planning spring time until
They are all planning very cautiously, very carefully. Some companies have very decent inventory controls, but however good those controls are they still have to do some economic forecasting, and forecasting is a little difficult this time around. Nobody is going to spring for big orders until there's evidence that consumer demand is back, and there is no such evidence to date.
clear consumer decent evidence expect holiday last modest sales slow spending three
The sales clear evidence of modest consumer spending slow down. We expect a decent holiday sales season, but an unspectacular one. The last three have been spectacular, particularly the last one.
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.