Word: retailers
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During these dog days of summer, the nation's department stores are still cold. According to the retail-sales statistics released by the Commerce Department on July 14, June department store sales dipped 1.3% compared to sales in May of this year, and were down 9.4% compared with June of 2008. So to prop up sales before the back-to-school season, one major player is asking Santa, of all people, for some help...
...move, however, may also send a more downbeat message to some shoppers. "It looks more like desperation than inspiration," says retail consultant Burt Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resources Group. "It may be a sign that Kmart's spring and summer inventory is not selling through." And Santa certainly isn't going to save Sears and Kmart, retailers that seem increasingly irrelevant in the Walmart/Target/Home Depot world. For example, as Morgan Stanley analyst Gregory Melich writes in a recent equity research report, "Sears Holdings' underinvestment in stores has degraded its ability to withstand the magnitude of the current pullback...
...used to it. To get a jump start on what might be a horrid Christmas shopping season, experts anticipate that stores will move up Black Friday, and perhaps begin their holiday marketing around Columbus Day. "Overall, I think you're going to see a lot of this on the retail front," says Blackshaw. "They're going to be looking for novel strategies to drive competitive advantage, even if they have to rethink the typical calendaring of events." In this depressed retail environment, however, can Santa deliver the goods...
...communities to raise the tax to 7 percent and keep the extra revenue. A 5 percent gross receipts tax will also be exacted on satellite TV providers' receipts from subscriptions, and local hotel taxes will increase by 2 percent. Sales tax will now also apply to alcohol purchased from retail stores, which had previously been exempt...
...kinds of retail in Cambridge, the impact won't be very substantial," Seidel said...