Burt Flickinger Quotations

Shoppers are outsmarting the stores even more this year and waiting until the last minute to get the best deals,

Now, rather than former outsiders having a big voice in the company, it will become more of a meritocracy.

He's a brilliant person, but did not have extensive executive experience

Retail planning has a very long lead time and it's tightly controlled,

Retailers are really getting squeezed especially in the largest retail sector, which is the supermarket sector. In the discount sector, Sears and Kmart would be at significant risk.

Starting with the recession in the mid-70's, the worse the economy got the better Wal-Mart sales would be. Now, like everybody else, Wal-Mart is using every excuse in the book to disguise company-specific problems.

It is critical for Wal-Mart to start doing a billion dollars a day in sales starting on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which is the big 30-day push for Christmas and year-end sales.

Most retailers made major mistakes of putting their distribution centers at greater distances from each other when energy prices came down and stayed stable in the 80s and 90s . Retailers are long-hauling freight anywhere from 300 to 700 miles. With 50 cents a mile for a 20-ton diesel freight truck, it adds up.

When it comes to their eating habits, consumers will continue to choose the proverbial sin over salvation -- or fat and sugar -- over the lack of it.

Wal-Mart and Target have both been criticized for their eminent domain use.

The good news is that a lot of shoppers are postponing purchases and going out the last week of the year. So there will be a real sales surge next week, which will help retailers.

Between warehousing, utilities and transportation costs, retailers have been paying unprecedented premiums for their supply chain. Therefore shoppers will be seeing substantially higher prices by year's end.

Americans are work-stressed, time-stressed, and they're eating out more. Sugar and fat is tasty and it gives immediate gratification.

About 95 percent of the time, weather is an unrealistic excuse, ... Less than 5 percent of the time, there's either a very low or no relationship at all between weather and a dramatic decline in sales and profits.

It's a superb strategic acquisition for Bon-Ton and a great disposition for Saks,

It's a sad day, with more than 100 people out of work during the holidays.

It was a really disappointing year for department stores, particularly those in New York.

It presents a challenge to Wal-Mart, especially in key battleground states like California,

For busy parents who stock up on baby food and other items, if they can't easily find it in Wal-Mart, they don't have time to go back. They'll just go to the competition. It's critical for Wal-Mart stores to be fully stocked and have experienced staff on weekends.

Food manufacturers will capitalize on fads as long as they're around and its profitable for them. When it's over, it's on to the next thing.

Consumers increasingly have a conscience and are increasingly shifting to competitors.

Consumers are wearing this year what they wore last year. We're already seeing a slowdown in apparel and accessories and that's a pretty bad barometer going into the winter season.

The biggest implication of Wal-Mart bringing payment processing in-house is the potential for it to save an unprecedented amount of money in yearly fees.

No matter what the stores do, they still seem to not be able to stimulate spending.

For the first time in nearly five years, there is a real softness in the upper-tier department store sector.

The company is in so much of a free fall. It looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better.