Steve Baker
Steve Baker
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I knew of 15 that were coming and expected more, but never expected this many, ... Based on what we're hearing, we'll probably have 60 or so by the time this is over.
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Back-to-school tends to be a very different buying season than others -- much more focused on needs than wants. Productivity products are the big sellers because the money is still coming from Mom and Dad.
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In most cases, these are products that people really need and they have a finite period of time in which to acquire them. So expect prices to be firm.
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I'm liking this. This is by far the best weather. I can't wait for some of those clouds to roll in.
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It's not as big a gamble as you would imagine it would be. It's all geared to hotel rooms and increasing the length of stay in hotel rooms.
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This is a very exciting time for the industry, ... The pricing across products looks great. Back-to-school was very strong for the group and I expect the same going into the holidays.
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We expect holiday sales for consumer electronics to be OK. Last year was such as a good year that the big gains maybe aren't sustainable.
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At this point in time, it is in the best interests of the association for me to pursue new opportunities in my professional career. I have no doubt as to the organization's continued success.
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You have to question whether it's legal for the state, in essence, to take away benefits from a pension system that people have been paying into, where they've been promised, with nothing in return - not a negotiated reduction, nothing.
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They advertised that if you gave them $250 a month upfront, that your money would end up making $10,000 a month,
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Another thing about back-to-school is that the marketing push from retailers is getting earlier and earlier. It used to start beginning of August, but now we're seeing it as early as mid-July.
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Sales in the first-half of this year have been pretty strong. But one of the biggest issues is the tough year-over-year comparisons.
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These attractions can open in six months, but it's questionable whether there will be any tourists there by then. It's going to be years before the New Orleans tourist industry comes back. Once engineers get inside a lot of those buildings, they'll discover damage that wasn't visible. A lot of buildings will have to be torn down or completely rebuilt.
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More and more of the scam artists we deal with are outside the United States. It's especially a problem with the Internet, ... because there really is an international component to it.