Hi John and Thread, re: local economy
I took a quick look at the local stores to see how some of our consumers were doing here, as a possible indicator of the economy.
The first store I stopped at was Macy's. The worker there told me the store manager is freaking out because the only thing moving is the 65%-off rack. I can say that I have never seen such packed-full racks in my entire life - people were simply not buying at this Macys. I then drove to Nordstroms to see how other consumers may be doing. At Nordstroms, the lady told me things had slowed up since the attack and there were emails and concern about this, however, on Saturday their business was apparently back. I then proceeded to go to Target, and noticed the business appeared to be down about 20% since the attacks and some (not all though) racks were full, a tad unusual for back-to-school September. CompUSA had a big sign, asking folks to stop by. Ross Dress For Less was packed with buyers, things looked good there. A local restaurant that I go to tells me their business is solid, no change. But the other day I went to a different restaurant, and their business appeared to be down about 15% to 20%.
WSJ had an article that reported middle America was returning to shopping and things were good there.
Regards,
Amy J |
