Weekly Shop Report

Retail stocks fell 1.2% yesterday in a third consecutive down day. All of the regulars experienced the hit – Nordstrom, Jones & Co., Ralph Lauren, The Zale Corp, Bon-Ton, New York & Company and so on. The worst performers of the week at large were Abercrombie, Ann Taylor, American Eagle, DSW and parent company Retail Ventures.

So what’s going on? Well first of all, The North Atlantic Oscillation, a climate patten that predicts the weather for the northern hemisphere of the world, was positive. That means high pressure over Greenland and low pressure over the rest of the the hemisphere. Translation: We’re freezing. Weather affects retail sales. Second, the consumer mind has changed. Pre-recession spending isn’t going to pick up any time soon as the consumer has altered their view of products and services asking themselves what they really need and being more selective on their purchases. And third, investors gauged China’s economic policies, worrying over the impact of import/export fluctuations on retailer costs.

On the bright side, Bloomingdale’s is joining Saks, Nordstrom and Barneys in…the outlet mall! Bloomingdale’s outlets are “in the works,” and the lux department store is apparently in talks with Simon Property Group about launching their outlets nationwide. Brooks Brothers hired guest designer Nikki Kule for their girl’s collection, which is set to launch this fall. Brooks Brother’s children will have two stores, one in Westport, Connecticut and one in Kansas City.
Then somewhere some industry big wigs debated the future of luxury, but we couldn’t really get into that topic because we are still recession recovering. Maybe next week…in shopping.

Emma Dinzebach

Posted by Emma Dinzebach at 09:12 AM
Bargain Hunting , bargain news , STYLE/BEAUTY , TRENDS |