Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
abundant believe boost consumer earnings favorable quite result retail retailers terms
We believe the earnings will be quite good, and that the result will give a boost to retail stocks. Everything has been favorable for retailers in terms of abundant consumer spending.
august confirm consumer decade importance numbers outside quite retail sales slowing spending surprising trend
It wasn't surprising really. The August same-store numbers really confirm the trend of slowing retail sales and consumer spending, ... August was the back-to-school that wasn't. August and back-to-school doesn't quite have the importance it did a decade ago, but outside of that make no mistake, consumer spending has slowed down and Americans are tapped out.
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.
background beginning experience good immense job length mistakes possible qualify quite retailing taking tenure
I think Conaway is a good retailing executive, but he made too many mistakes at the very beginning of his tenure at Kmart. It is quite possible that his background and length of experience did not sufficiently qualify him for the immense job he was taking on.
active company effort expanding felt happen monroe mostly point quite reached running shape sons
I think that they reached the point where something had to happen to Burlington Coat. (CEO) Monroe Milstein was not active for quite sometime, and I think it was mostly his sons running the company. I think his sons were running out of ideas. They weren't expanding and they felt it would be too much of an effort to make the company shape up and be competitive.
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.
available buy candy known less money past quite represent savings
If you stash money away in a savings account, then there's less available to buy things in a store, from candy to cars. This is not quite the conventional retrenchment we've known from past recessions, but it may represent a kind of wishy-washy stagnation.
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.
cash clients continue continued february half marked retail sales sore spending stood stronger telling year
February sales were very strong, stronger than anticipated in many instances. I will tell you that if you were a retailer in February and did not do very well, you stood out like a sore thumb. We're telling our clients that the first half of this year will continue to be marked by continued strong spending at the retail cash register.