Retail Sales Drop Worse-Than-Expected 1.1% In July As Rising Covid Fears Hit Consumers
Aug 17, 2021
Shoppers in the U.S. cut back their purchases in July even more than expected as worries over the delta variant of Covid-19 dampened activity and government stimulus dried up. Retail sales for the month fell 1.1%, worse than the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.3% decline and below the upwardly revised 0.7% increase in June. Excluding automobiles, sales declined 0.4%, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday. Read more at CNBC.
The split personality of our industry is perfectly illustrated here. Having been to Chicago Collective, where record sales are being reported around the market by independent stores galore, this sort of “national total report” is utterly irrelevant to me, and it’s fantastic news, not a point of caution.
I’m probably not the same as most other readers, but once I realized (far too late) that we indies were under assault by national chains trying to present themselves at authentic so as to take more and more market share from us indies, I lost all interest in any news at all regarding those Body Snatchers that sought to put us all out of business.
I don’t just champion Local and Independent; I urge the complete collapse of the idiocy that was foisted on America in the 80’s and on. Buy ZERO from them, buy ZERO from any on-line retailer. And urge your clients to do the same. There are indie stores in my region that I would NEVER bash, never diminish in any way. They don’t step on me, and vice versa. There is common ground there, and mutual respect. I’m not afraid of competition. I’m ANGRY about all the hypodermic needles inserted into my local economy, sucking as much out of the circulating capital pool, weakening the vibrancy of said region so stock holders an take the money instead.
This report is good news, but not good enough.