The Power of Retail

The slow economy, sky-rocketing gas prices and a tough job market is making things especially hard for retailers this summer. There is a sudden trend for spate of sales across retailers luring in shoppers who avoided the stores in the coldest May in six years. With suddenly increasing temperatures, the demand for fans, air conditioners, summer apparel, and cold drink has shot up according to industry consultant Planalytics, that helps retailers predict and manage the weather’s impact on sales.

According to Scott Bernhardt, CEO of Planalytics, “You had a tough spring and then suddenly a shock to the system; people were rushing out to buy these things.” The company has estimated that sales for weather specific items such as air conditioners increased by 20%, bottled water by 4%, swimwear by 6%, sandals by 9%, as compared to the same week in 2007. The highest gains took place in the Northeast.

Besides the sudden heat wave, generous economy stimulus checks given by the government, the cash registers at many retailers will be ringing and happy this summer, although consumers will start tightening their wallet again.

With most checks hitting shoppers’ hands in July, Retail Forward projects 6% year-over-year sales growth for the upcoming third quarter, half of which the company is attributing to the stimulus checks. But gimmicks like government checks are only designed to ease short-term pain, not fundamentally change the market. Beneath the uplifting near-term trends, there are plenty of signs of consumers’ cutting back.

A Lehman Brothers report issued Monday says that while 2008 may not bring a recession as traditionally defined–two straight quarters of negative gross domestic product growth–the National Bureau of Economic Research is primed to call a recession based on “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production and wholesale-retail sales.”

The hardest part of setting up a new home has been selecting the right curtains. I went to so many stores and saw so many samples that I ended up being totally confused. I’ve always thought that having the right curtains sets the tone of the room and house and so place a lot of importance to buying the perfect ones. This time around we had extra tall and wide windows so I really didn’t have to much choice, but to go for specially measured and made curtains. They were expensive but at least I got the look that I wanted. I eventually did find some nice alternatives that were ready made, so that gives me a nice change of scene with the seasons.

Gap is looking to reduce the amount of space it leases in some malls, as an effort to cut back on its rental expenses. The company has had declining revenues for three of the last four quarters. According to Glenn Murphy, CEO of Gap, the retailer is considering the 40 million sq ft that it leases as an asset rather than a cost, stating that “How are we going to monetize it and maximize it to make sure we can get the P&L (profit and loss) benefit by doing the work that needs to be done on this 40 million square feet?”

The company is likely to reduce the size of its stores so that it can save its rent, and will also combine some of its stores for kids and babies into the original Gap store for adults. Admitting that the company “got carried away because we were doing so well”, Murphy said that they necessarily did not need such large stores. He added that the benefits of the reduction in real estate space will not come into effect till 2009.

When it comes to banking, there is no option but to be completely clued in if you want to make the most of your money. The thing that you must understand is that you can make your money work for you, in addition to you working for money, of course. So that means, that you must understand things like a balance transfer, balance statement, savings account Vs current accounts, credit ratings and so on. A lot of times you can get a great deal just by transferring your balance from one credit card to another, waiving interest and fees for 6 months or more and cutting down on your payments. But you can only do this, if you take a bit of interest and understand how its done and where to go to find the best deals. Lucky for you that you’ve come to the right place!

Retail developers are changing the way they have done business lately. With the weak US economy, which has made developers wary of starting new projects, developers are instead tweaking existing projects to create new retail formats. As one executive calls it, it is the “intensification” or “densification” of shopping centers that are already present as a way to turn the tide away from an over-malled country.

Developers are looking for new formats and underutilized space that they can use to create something different. According to the chairman and CEO of the country’s second largest developer, General Growth Properties, John Bucksbaum, “Intensifying the use of property is certainly the major innovation.” One of the malls being redevolped by the company in Holladay, Utah is getting offices and residential growth as part of being de-malled. The re-done mall will open in 2010, as a mixed use format with shops, restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, condos, townhouses, cinemas, offices, riverside trails as well as a public plaza.

“You need to give people more choices,” said Scott Schroeder, vice president of marketing and communications for Developers Diversified Realty. “Nobody wants to make eight stops to get what they need.” He noted that the performance of certain specialty retailers and smaller “junior” anchors was an ongoing concern for the industry. “The more we can create a hub that combines value and fashion, the more appeal we have and the more customers we will retain.”

Looking for a job is becoming quite a global activity these days. I no longer matters where you are physically located, as you can easily find any kind of job anywhere in the world. So if you are specifically looking for an IT job, just do an IT job search in the country that you are interested in and you can be sure to find several great options. It never used to be quite as easy and quick as this before, but now being in a different location is no excuse for not being able to find a job. The Internet has made so many things so much simpler for all of us. For a small minority, this might not be a good thing, but for the majority of us it is a great advancement. Good luck on your job search!

I’ve been taking lots of photographs on my morning walks lately. Everything looks so much nicer in the morning, so much cleaner and calmer. I love the quiet and the solitude of my walks and have really come to love the routine of them as well. Here’s a shot that I took last month outside a home not too far away from where we live. They have a wonderful garden, very well looked after and beautifully landscaped as well, more than most other houses.

Enjoy!

The past week seems like we’ve been on vacation, there is a wonderful relaxed air around us, almost as if we’re at one of these St. Barts villa rentals on a long, long vacation. What a nice dream right? Well, the next best thing after actually going on vacation is to dream about going for one, and there’s no better type of vacation than a relaxing beach one right? I was always a mountain vacation type of girl, but several beach vacations over the past few years has totally converted me into a beach vacation girl. There is a wonderful relaxing element there that is not present on a mountain vacation. I do love to go for treks though and have been missing them a lot. Hopefully, I will be able to go on one soon!

Well, I finally got my iPod that I’ve been planning and delaying for quite some time now and am busy uploading songs from my CDs. We also got the Bose SoundDock with it so we can have superb quality sound at home as well. My hubby go the iPod Shuffle to use while jogging but I’ve yet to upload any music on it as yet. I have lots of fun uploading 120 of my photos onto the iPod as well, and they look just so amazingly clear on the iPod screen, that I am quite amazed. So, that’s why I haven’t been posting here on a regular basis this past week. Got to catch up now!