Dick Strong gives progress report on his slaying of "Xorg" (Neil Peart)
LIBERATOR
cooperating with RUSH and staging the downfalls of RUSH owned
enterprises. He provided this as assurance that the bankruptcies and
elimination of RUSH empire is happening just as I requested, shrinking
the circumference of it foot by foot day by day. Soon there will be no
RUSH empire. The bankruptcies are all RUSH owned stores. In fact RUSH
bought Sharper Image because I was infatuated with the store, and
shortly thereafter Dick had to bankrupt it. Target is also owned by
RUSH, as is Sears/Kmart - what am I saying? All stores mentioned are
RUSH owned. How did this band come to own so much literally almost
everything? By extreme cheating and fraud, and Dick is the cure to
them as an ailment. I would say to Dick if Dreamtheater is involved in
the mass murder they too must be slayed. If they are not they should
be requested to testify against RUSH and RUSH crimes using the NSA.
Dick should seek that avenue. DreamTheater should know better than to
aid in mass murder and mass fraud and deception.
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Customers drop till they shop
By Al Lewis
Dow Jones Newswires
Updated: 12/06/2008 09:15:38 AM MST
For too many retailers, the customer is the problem.
"The consumer is in a frozen mode," Saks Inc. CEO Steve Sadove said in
a Nov. 18 conference call, explaining a steeper-than-expected
quarterly loss that sent the luxury retailer's stock to levels not
seen in a decade.
"Our consumer doesn't feel wealthy," Sadove complained. "They aren't
in the mood to shop . . . shellshocked relative to how they feel about
their portfolio."
Neiman Marcus shoppers are apparently better stock-pickers. The
privately held chain is offering them a chance to be portrayed in his-
and-her life-sized sculptures made with Lego blocks. List price is
$60,000 in the Neiman's 2008 Christmas catalog.
"Our core customers don't lose the ability to spend," chief financial
officer Jim Skinner remarked at an October investor conference. "They
lose the desire to spend."
Customers are losing the desire at Target too.
"Right now, the consumer is more than hesitant," Target Corp. chief
executive Gregg Steinhafel said in a Nov. 17 conference call,
explaining a 24 percent decline in quarterly profits and a 3.3 percent
decline in same-store sales.
"We, like other retailers, are struggling from the inability to
motivate and inspire people to come into our stores," Steinhafel said.
"They're very stressed."
Something about losing a home or a job does this to customers.
"We are in unprecedented times," said Pete Nordstrom, president of
merchandising for the chain that his great-grandfather founded in
1901. "Customers are lacking confidence today."
Consumer confidence is at levels not seen since the 1970s.
Official confirmation that the U.S. has been in a recession for a
year, and a transitioning government that only throws freshly minted
money at the problem, will only add to the retail rubble pile come
January, February and March.
The bankruptcy filings of Circuit City, Linens 'n Things, Mervyns,
Steve & Barry's, Whitehall Jewelers, The Sharper Image, and The Bombay
Co. soon may seem like the good old days. And add B. Moss Clothing,
with 70 stores in 19 states, to that list. It filed bankruptcy
Tuesday.
Healthier retailers have begun closing underperforming stores by the
dozen, including Ann Taylor Stores Corp.; Charming Shoppes Inc.
(parent of Fashion Bug, Lane Bryant, Catherines and Petite
Sophisticate stores); Disney Store USA; Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc.;
Ethan Allen Interiors Inc.; Foot Locker Inc.; Gap Inc.; Home Depot USA
Inc.; KB Toys Inc.; Macy's Inc.; Pep Boys; Sears Holdings Corp.;
Starbucks Corp.; Talbots Inc.; and Zale Corp.
The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts store closings
will total 148,000 in 2008, the most since 2001. It also forecasts
another 73,000 store closures in the first half of 2009.
This is not good news for General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's
second-largest mall owner, with 200 malls, including Park Meadows.
The Chicago company could be about to supplant Kmart as the largest
bankruptcy case in retail history.
It has already hired a bankruptcy lawyer and warned investors that its
$3.1 billion in maturing debt coming due next year "raises substantial
doubts as to our ability to continue as a going concern."
For now, General Growth is living one day at a time. On Monday, it
announced it had won a two-week extension on $900 million in debt that
was due last week.
Things are so bad, some retail executives can't seem to remember good
news.
"Can you talk about maybe some wins in the third quarter?" an analyst
asked Macy's chief financial officer, Karen Hoguet, in a Nov. 12
conference call. Specifically, the analyst asked about the chain's new
strategy tailoring merchandise to local shoppers called "My Macy's."
"You know something," Hoguet said. "I don't have any 'My Macy's'
stories off the top of my head today. There are lots of them, and I
apologize to any of the 'My Macy's' people. There are lots and lots of
good things happening, merchandising successes where we have put goods
in. . . . But I confess I don't have a long list sitting here today."
Pretty soon, there may be only one place left to shop.
"This is Wal-Mart time," said Lee Scott on Oct. 27, not long before
announcing his retirement as chief executive. "This is the kind of
environment that Sam Walton built this company for."