Don’t Buy The Death Of Retail Story

At dinner a couple of weeks ago, a business acquaintances commented on how poorly the retail sector was doing, and that we should worry that holiday sales would be weak with implications for the overall economy. They must have been listening to business media pundits who love leading with negativity. The negativity was triggered by poor third-quarter results of some of the traditional consumer discretionary stocks, like the department stores (Macy’s, Nordstrom, Dillard’s) which generally missed their expected revenue numbers. There was immediate speculation in the media that soft retail sales were in store for the holiday season. Read more at Forbes.