Kurt Barnard Quotations | Page 2

What J.C. Penney needs to do is to make the stores they do have palatable, pleasant to shop, and all of this needs to be done with an eye toward recapturing the market they've lost,

With gas prices the way they are and with people suddenly being burdened with monthly car payments, they are looking for bargains. People are taking their money from Bloomingdale's to Penney, Kohl's (NYSE: KSS - news ) and Target (NYSE: TGT - news ).

What we are seeing is that consumers' cautious spending is now stretching to the low-priced discount stores as well as to the other stores. ...Today, saving money is chic. Bargain hunting is fashionable.

What we are looking at is very strong and very necessary steps as the first installment of a Kmart turnaround, ... What he's doing right now is terribly important. It needed to be done, biting into the sour apple so to speak, in order to create a clear path for the future. I think Kmart is going to be customer-centric in the future, competitive in the market place and exciting to shop.

What the Gap is doing is not only what it must be doing, but what it should have done a long time ago.

What's happening is very simple. The numbers we saw today are clear evidence that the American public is shell-shocked to the point of being frightened over a big long list of circumstances surrounding the economy over which they have no power, no control.

Even the most loyal customers won't be able to resist a very good bargain. And by the time the loyal customer has bought all the Wal-Mart bargains, there won't be very much left for Target.

Bigger is better. Bigger offers more opportunities for increasing sales volume and increasing the customer base. It would give them an opportunity to improve their comparable sales performance.

Everything will depend on whether they can get an extension of their credit and possibly additional credit to tide them over. If they don't get the credit, Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) is probably the only way out.

Everything really seems to be working for the consumers.

Discount stores are doing very well, and home-oriented retailers are doing very well. But most of the others are dragging their heels.

died many years ago, but (they) just weren't buried.

Consumers still aren't in a spending mood, ... This year is going to be modestly better. The emphasis is on the word 'modest.'

Don't get carried away with this whole thing. It's considerably bigger than in times past, but it is not the kind of thing I would say that will make or break a company's quarter.

Early indications show that store traffic and the promotional activity is at lower levels than last year at this time. I wouldn't be surprised if many retailers try to get away with selling merchandise at full price.

February sales were very strong, stronger than anticipated in many instances. I will tell you that if you were a retailer in February and did not do very well, you stood out like a sore thumb. We're telling our clients that the first half of this year will continue to be marked by continued strong spending at the retail cash register.

February is a testing month for spring, and the results have not been spectacular, ... There seems to be a sense of foreboding that while spring is likely to be a smidgen better than we have seen in past months, it is not going to be a barn-burner.

There's a general sense of weakness and caution and I'll tell you the headlines in the newspapers these days do not help, ... We're seeing more layoffs and consumers are beginning to feel there's a cold winter breeze suddenly blowing their way.

There's a general sense of weakness and caution and I'll tell you, the headlines in the newspapers these days do not help. We're seeing more layoffs and consumers are beginning to feel there's a cold winter breeze suddenly blowing their way.

There's no question that Kmart is in deep trouble, and how that trouble is going to resolve itself remains to be seen,

There's no question that competition in retailing is rampant and out of hand. It's getting increasingly difficult for companies to keep their heads above water. That's why the industry is getting into gear for more merger activity.

There's no question it's been very anemic. Now the big question is, will the bargain hunt continue into the next 16 to 17 days before Christmas, or will consumers just simply go shopping?

The worst part of these results is that they show that the effect of the tax rebate checks has petered out. This is a nightmare in itself for retailers and it doesn't bode well for Christmas. Also, we'll probably see more markdowns now, more than retailers anticipated for the holidays. That will hurt their bottom line.

They are all planning very cautiously, very carefully. Some companies have very decent inventory controls, but however good those controls are they still have to do some economic forecasting, and forecasting is a little difficult this time around. Nobody is going to spring for big orders until there's evidence that consumer demand is back, and there is no such evidence to date.

The sales clear evidence of modest consumer spending slow down. We expect a decent holiday sales season, but an unspectacular one. The last three have been spectacular, particularly the last one.

The thing that drives retail sales most and best is job availability and the ease of obtaining new jobs. Both of these factors are absent at the present time. It may not be until the end of the year that we see job growth.

Sales results were not exactly exceptional and they do represent a slowdown in the overall economy,

People still like to be out. There's a social aspect to this. It's hard to change people's habits. Many people have the day, it's a family day, and retailers have specials.

The name Burlington Coat Factory is a misnomer because they carry a full line of fashion apparel, including coats in the winter. It's basically an off-price operation. You get good value there, very good value.

Oil, jobs, housing prices, unfunded pensions and geopolitical events that could go any number of ways will have an effect in 2006. At this point it's foolhardy to forecast. Any one of those things could send shivers up the spine of consumers.

Demand is great simply because home sales have been going through the roof, and every time a home is occupied for the first time, usually tens of thousands of dollars are spent on furnishing it and refurbishing it,

Competing on price with Wal-Mart doesn't work. Hopefully they will never do it again. It was a bloody experience for them.

Despite the fact that it's a clearance month, we can still see strong trends. People stayed away from department stores and they broke down the doors at discount stores.

Are consumers buying more? I don't know. I think what Wal-Mart said about people spending less of the rebate money this year in stores is significant. It shows people prefer to save any extra money than spend it.

As consumers become more comfortable with buying from the computer, ... and this new generation that has grown up with the computer comes of age, what we will see is huge dollar amounts of retail sales being transacted on the Web and we will see a lot of stores become increasingly Web stores.

The bulk of the refund checks will go toward paying off the enormous credit card debt which Americans have currently.

A Valentine's Day gift requires a lot of thought.

All apparel-based retailers got creamed. They lost much of their market share to discounters.

This is not the time for runaway enthusiasm. The first half was very good for retailers but consumers are going to be very wary in the second-half, ... if we're lucky.

This is really the surprise of the year. We should have really anticipated it because suddenly the weather turned very cold.

The weather was a factor and the effects of higher gasoline prices are finally catching up with retailers at the registers. Beyond that, I think we're likely to see softness for the next two to three months.

This certainly came as a total surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have. I think we're looking at a real estate deal here.

This is actually a little worse than I expected, and particularly bad when viewed within the context of a year ago, which was already very weak.

This has become far more important today. Kids are becoming more independent.

This has become a very serious disruption in what could otherwise be a much better consumer spending climate,

They (retailers) don't know. All they can do is hope and guess more than anything else. It's a brutal, brutal problem,

They're willing to buy, but not willing to go broke in the process,

Amazon's prospects, in my view, are at best limited. They may do some wonderful things, but the market isn't there. It's like a jockey beating a horse with three legs.

Americans have become very cautious spenders, and that was extremely evident in May. Retail sales will continue to advance, but very slowly, very cautiously.

Americans, for one reason or another, have not given up on their infatuation with SUVs that guzzle gas by the gallons. But there's only so much money to go around. If people are paying more to drive their cars, they will have less money to spend on other things.

Americans are less secure. There's an uneasiness in the air and a tendency to look over one's shoulder more often.

Americans are being bombarded with announcements of layoffs. Anytime you listen to the radio it's always 3,000 laid off here, 500 there, ... That means a lot of people who have decent jobs and good income hear that little voice in the back of their head asking the question 'could my number be up next?' They're buying what they need, but they don't buy frivolously.

They ought to go private. It makes it easier to make changes and what is more they will not have the personnel problem that always comes when someone totally new steps in and takes over the company.

They have all learned one lesson -- make yourself more efficient. Operate more economically, and do more with less.

They feel they no longer need to go broke when they go shopping,

They failed to establish an identity for themselves, a niche, and that makes it difficult for it to stand out, ... They never gave shoppers a reason for preferring it to any one of its rivals. It was just there, like soaking corn flakes.

They are taking big bites of market share out of the sneakers. The sneaker business is a mature business that represents primarily a replacement mode. People mainly buy sneakers when the old ones wear out.

They are streamlining operations, trying to make it more profitable, productive, ... The real question to my mind is how can they be a full line store without cosmetics?

This loss will be easily made up, ... If I want to buy some jewelry for my wife, do you think I'm going to let one snow storm stop me? No, I won't. Consumers will get their shopping done this week and in the days leading up to Christmas.

A terrible problem for retailers is that most stores are evoking yawns from consumers, instead of excitement. Retailers just can't keep making the mistake of taking customers for granted by selling ho-hum kind of merchandise. Consumers are looking for unusual and exciting products and they're not finding them.

All our surveys and research have demonstrated that consumer spending is very slow in growing and contracting. It resists change. We can expect this to last quite a while.

It seems to be that a lot of these large chains are gravitating toward the advantages inherent in joint buying and obtaining lower prices and saving a lot of money in the process, ... ...It is very likely to be a powerful weapon in the retailer's arsenal to reduce the cost of buying and operating. And given the world of the Internet, which makes possible these alliances, it has to be recognized that consumers will find it so much easier these days to compare prices because all they have to do is click away.

It wasn't surprising really. The August same-store numbers really confirm the trend of slowing retail sales and consumer spending, ... August was the back-to-school that wasn't. August and back-to-school doesn't quite have the importance it did a decade ago, but outside of that make no mistake, consumer spending has slowed down and Americans are tapped out.

It was disappointing. A lot of stores told us that when they opened at 7 or 8 in the morning with special deals good for two hours, crowds were beginning to mass. But at the stroke of 9, when those sales were supposed to end, the crowds disappeared like a snowflake in the palm of your hand.

It was really the department store chains and the apparel retailers that took it on the chin with weak January sales results. But a couple of names in those two groups are guiding higher than expected, predicated on expectations of lower promotional activity going into spring.

It's a good industry. It's growing, and it has been growing for a long, long time, but I think the May company is particularly interested in getting access to the bridal business,

It's a question of whether Federated wants to revive the name brand.

It is time that Manhattan got itself its first really splendid discount store, so the sale opens the door to the arrival of Target, or maybe even Wal-Mart.

It's going to be a one-time pop, and it's not going to be much of a pop, either.

It's going to continue on this level for some time. Maybe if the weather really improves, we'll find a little pop to retail sales, but even if it does improve, there will still be the contraction in the economy.

It's going to be a very, very strong day. No question about it. But the weather has me a little worried. The temperature has been way above normal and who wants to buy a heavy sweater when the temperature is 65 degrees?

Its formula is essentially one that appeals to just about everybody, and that takes advantage of a fundamental need -- pay less than you have to elsewhere, ... It is a totally irresistible formula that, so long as there is such a thing as buying and selling, will not fail.

Consumer spending is heavily devoted to hard goods. That implies for the most part that home-oriented things have been doing well for some time, ... Home sales have been skyrocketing. Every time a home changes hands, tens of thousands of dollars are spent on decorating, furnishings, adding new kitchens and bathrooms.

Consumer spending is going to be more restrained than it had been early last year. They will be buying things they need. They will not buy on impulse and will not buy frivolously. They will buy what they need and look for bargains.

Consumer spending is avoiding the mall-based, high-priced stores and is now drifting rapidly to the discount and low-priced segment.

Consumer spending had been in decline before this awful tragedy happened. Now comes this additional damper. Considering we are living in state of shock, sorrow and sadness, we really can't expect people to just go out on wild shopping binges.

Consumers in October continued on a buying spree, propelled by a very robust economy, ... Many came through with better figures than last year, even though last year the numbers were also very good.

Consumers have turned cautious. They have stopped buying things frivolously. Consumers do spend money today, but they will buy only what they need, will insist on good quality and fashion. But they will buy cautiously, and not buy extravagantly.

Consumers have been and continue to be on a spending spree and that has benefited most retailers, ... The universe has been very retail friendly.

Consumers are extremely cautious today, and that caution has not really very much to do with consumer confidence indexes. It's related almost exclusively to one item, one four-letter word: jobs.

Consumers are already concerned that the labor market continues to lag behind an economic recovery. They don't really need another negative distraction.

The numbers today are nothing other than big generators of yawns.

It's not a core business, but (gardening) is a very profitable part of the business.

E-commerce is growing exponentially, and it is not at all unreasonable to think that simply because the store essentially, or a whole horizon of stores, happens to be right on your desk, that shopping is made so much easier than before,

Everybody is worried about a soft landing for the economy and a contraction of consumer spending. And come Christmas it will be far less exciting than a year ago. The high cost at the gas pump is beginning to take its toll and for a lot of families spending an extra $20-to-$25 a month on gasoline means spending that much less on stores.

The blizzard was a serious setback for retailers, especially since the Presidents Day weekend is a major day for sales. Most of the malls and independent stores were shut in the Northeast.

The bigger it gets, the smaller the percentage growth will be. Let's say that when you add 10 new stores to 100 stores, you grow the business 10 percent. When you add 10 stores to 3,000 stores, the growth isn't obvious.

The August figures this time are basically not very reliable for anything whatsoever. A lot of the Labor Day activity will come in September this year.

Target has ignored Wal-Mart's changeover, and it has suffered because of it. Target will have a decent season, but they won't make the winner's circle.

It's charitable to use the word 'dismal,' ... It's a reflection both of the weather and the contraction of the economy, and it really seems to have hit everybody.

It will lend luster to the mall, ... This means Indianapolis has the demographics to support a Tiffany.

They are now getting into the apparel business in a way they have not known before -- in a way that establishes Sears Roebuck as a major operation in apparel.

They are good merchants. They have a knack for listening to the customer.

They were tepid. They give clear indication that Americans are far from ready to go on buying binges,

There's tremendous demand for anything related to gardening, horticulture. It means dollar signs at the cash register.

The rest of the industry can take comfort from Wal-Mart's projections,

These numbers come on the back of heavy discounting. The back-to-school period also fueled results. Beyond that, the situation last year in July wasn't good. So retailers were up against much easier comparisons.

These two companies give a must-have lesson for all retailers. Shaper Image has seen sales jump in the double-digits because they keep innovating and offering new, fun and useful products.

These two companies gave a must-have lesson for all retailers, Sharper Image combed the globe for unusual and exciting products that weren't run-off-the-mill ... Retailers made the mistake of taking customers for granted and the payoff came two weeks ago in much weaker Christmas sales because of ho-hum kind of merchandise.

These two companies gave a must-have lesson for all retailers, ... Sharper Image combed the globe for unusual and exciting products that weren't run-off-the-mill ... Retailers made the mistake of taking customers for granted and the payoff came two weeks ago in much weaker Christmas sales because of ho-hum kind of merchandise.