Retail Sales On The Rise

AL, I really like you and I value your opinions.

I was just hoping for something... oh, a little more definitive. [img]smile.gif[/img]

BTW, you still owe me email. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img]

Let me just say that when anytime a Hot Topic opens up, it's a good thing. However, I agree with the majority here as the new stores are opening up, but I am not getting any more money to shop in these stores.

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Originally posted by gae:
Maybe someone can explain this to me, because I've puzzled over it for years.

I'm simply not a shopper. I will buy clothes when I absolutely have to. I will buy things for the house (towels, sheets, etc.) when I absolutely have to.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a power tool whore, but I just don't understand who spends $80+ for a sweater from Ann Taylor.

Who buys the stuff that fills the malls? Who buys the cars that fill acres on Colerain Avenue?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've mentioned it before, but my brother and his wife fit that profile.

I can't tell you how many times they've turned in their car and gotten a new one. And not just a car, but a nice, big Explorer. I can't tell you how many times they've changed furniture. They live the good life.

Someone is buying this stuff.

I'm a catalogue freak. I'm the kind of person who looks, but doesn't buy unless the planets are all aligned and it's some type of unique occasion and I actually have change in my pocket.

I get catalogues from Restoration Hardware, Rejuvenation Hardware, Pottery Barn. I look at them all. Their offerings are so overpriced, and I'm not convinced of the quality. But someone has to be buying that crap or else they wouldn't be printing the catalogue.

Well the proccess still holds true for "needs shoppers".

The basis of a consumer driven economy is the breakdown of it's parts.

Lets say you buy a loaf of bread.
Many would say that you just spent money at the store for the bread, but in fact you put money into an etire chain of events that affect many businesses all the way from the farmer to grewq the wheat to the trucks that delever it and the baker who baked it and the company that made the bags that it came in...

Same thing goes for services.
You get an oil change.
Not only does the place where you got the oil change get a part of it but so does the manufacturer of the oil, and the company that made the filter, and the company that made the tools used to change your oil. Even the company that supplies the uniforms and makes the rags that the mechanics used to clean up.
They all get a part of it.

A simple purchase effects not just the place where it was made, but also all the places that were involved in the making of that item.

So even if you only shop for needs and dont often shop for "want items" you are still an important cog in this consumer driven economy.