Richard Hastings Quotations

It ended up a pretty good season. The retailers that didn't do well did it to themselves.

We're at an extremely dangerous situation where home heating bills could be shockingly high this winter, ... This is very bad news especially in the northeast part of the country, where the population represents a pretty big chunk of national retail sales.

The capital markets are so liquid, despite some of the increase in borrowing costs, that they create wonderful choices for consumer companies like Tommy Hilfiger and J. Crew to go private, ... break themselves into pieces, gobble someone else's pieces or just try to raise money to get bigger.

I expect this number to rise toward the end of the year. At the same time jobs and wages won't rise fast enough to offer relief to already overstretched consumers. This could hurt retail spending in the second-half.

The management shakeup is no surprise, and we welcome the change, ... We believe Lewis is the better person to lead a customer-centric business.

One area of trouble in consumer spending is households and individuals with weakening credit profiles. So far it's not yet a majority of households but the number of consumers in credit distress is on the increase. That's something to keep an eye on,

The store of the future will be more of a 'do-it-itself' event with not much human interaction. These new systems will eventually be able to recognize your tastes and preferences and what you like to buy better than you yourself know.

The additional cash on the balance sheet from the asset sales will put Kmart in a position to further reduce debt and possibly buyback more shares in a move that could boost share prices further, ... At the same time, the big cash position will enable management to look at an attractive range of choices, including the possibility at some point in the future of a major acquisition.

We had a strong back-to-school season and discretionary spending on low-priced items has trended higher. These are good indications for Halloween, which typically sets the tone for the rest of the holiday shopping season.

Halloween this year falls on a Friday. That should be helpful for retailers because the party carries into the weekend.