After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

[c1ue]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

From our follow-up article in process to our Dec, 2008 retail forecast, here's the damage report for 2009 as of Dec. 14, 2009: 255 retailers closed a total of 16,232 retail outlets.

That's great info - is there also some context on how this compares with either the total supply and/or prior year's closings?

[strittmatter]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

That's great info - is there also some context on how this compares with either the total supply and/or prior year's closings?

I'll 2nd that.

dailyjobcuts - listings of layoffs, bankruptcies and closings.

[D-Mack]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

From our follow-up article in process to our Dec, 2008 retail forecast, here's the damage report for 2009 as of Dec. 14, 2009: 255 retailers closed a total of 16,232 retail outlets.

Number
Stores---Retailer
..
200 Foot Locker
...
24 Foot Locker

Is this counted twice?

[FRED]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

1 Congress

We can only dream.

[FRED]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

Is this counted twice?

Fixed it. Thanks!

[GRG55]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

We can only dream.

Our government up here wants to do something along those lines...and to my complete astonishment there's actually people in this country that think that's a bad idea...:rolleyes:

Tories seek to suspend Parliament
The Conservatives will ask the governor general to delay the return of MPs until March after the Olympics

Last Updated: 30th December 2009, 4:56am

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government will ask the governor general to suspend Parliament today, delaying the return of MPs until the beginning of March.

Sources say the government is expected to prevent Parliament coming back on its scheduled return date of Jan. 25 so it can keep the House in recess until after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, would not confirm or deny the story, saying only that "no decision had yet been made" with respect to proroguing Parliament.

Preventing the return of Parliament until after the Olympics would effectively shut down all government committees, which would stop MPs from pursuing the Afghan detainee controversy until Parliament returned.

"If the government attempts this manoeuvre, it's a shocking insult to democracy," said Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale. "The government is in a very sticky place with respect to Afghan detainees and they're running from accountability here -- this is a cut and run government."
A Conservative source also said proroguing Parliament was considered the best way to give the Harper government the upper hand in the Senate.

In early January, there will be five vacancies in the Senate, all of which Harper could fill with Tory loyalists. Even though the new senators would give the Tories majority over the Liberals in the Senate, the Liberals retain their majority on Senate committees until the next general election or until Parliament is prorogued.

Suspending Parliament would allow the Tories to reconstitute Senate committees, making it much easier for them to pass legislation unchanged.

"I think it's outrageous," said NDP House Leader Libby Davies. "There's no legitimate reason for Parliament to be prorogued.
"This is another political scam he's pulling to suit his own political agenda instead of representing the public interest by making Parliament work."

[Slimprofits]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost....75589801230101

This morning, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food Services sales for December fell 0.3% from the prior month to $353.0 Billion, while sales increased 5.4% compared to the year-ago period. This is the second straight year-over-year gain after 14 consecutive months of declines, the longest such streak on record. To put this into perspective, consider that in the previous 15+ years, from January 1993 through August 2008, there were a total of only 2 months in which YoY decreases were reported.

While the gain certainly looks impressive at first glance, it’s more representative of the extremely easy comparison from last December, when overall sales tumbled 11.0%. For the month, Gasoline Stations (+33.6% YoY / +1.0% MoM) and Nonstore retailers (+10.3% YoY / +1.4% MoM) were among the strongest gainers. Total sales excluding Autos were up 5.2% from last year, while total sales less Autos and Gas Stations showed a 2.3% year-on-year gain.

Stores which are highly leveraged to the housing and job markets, including Furniture & Home Furnishings Stores (-3.8% YoY), Department Stores (-1.2%), and Building Materials & Supplies Dealers (-5.8% YoY) continue to struggle mightily, and have yet to gain any traction. For the November-December holiday season, total GAFO Retail sales climbed 1.1%, after plunging 4.2% in last year’s dismal showing.

Preliminary results show total sales for 2009 fell 6.2%, or 1.9% excluding autos and gas stations. The steepest annual drops were seen in gas stations (-24.5%), autos (-12.3%), furniture & home furnishings stores (-11.1%), electronics & appliance stores (-7.8%), and department stores (-5.8%). The only sectors to show yearly gains in 2009 were health & personal care stores (+3.3%), food services & drinking places (0.7%), and food & beverage stores (0.3%).

Going forward, expect to see continued improvement in year-over-year gains as the comparisons will only get easier from here. However, spending will remain constrained until consumers feel more confident about the housing and job markets. While sales are relatively strong compared to a year ago, they are still well below the spending levels we saw even back in 2006.

[grapejelly]

Re: After Weak Holiday Sales, Retailers Prepare for Even Worse

the difference between a depression and a recession