Retail sales gain is lower than expected




After two months of declines, Canadian retail sales rose in February, although it's too soon to celebrate, analysts say.

Statistics Canada reported Thursday that retail sales rose 0.4 per cent in February, with a value of $37.3 billion when adjusted for seasonal fluctuations.

Analysts, however, had predicted a gain of 0.5 per cent for the month, following a 0.4-per-cent decline in January - originally reported as 0.3 per cent.

"Today's data are no reason to pop open the champagne bottle," writes CIBC World Markets economist Emanuella Enenajor. "The headline figure came in slightly weaker than expectations, and with downward revisions to the prior month, the threemonth annualized pace of retail sales is still in negative territory.

"In real terms, the month's 0.4-per-cent gain gives a bit of a boost to the month's GDP numbers but still suggests growth in February should come in more or less flat."

The automotive sector, which has been responsible for gains in other parts of the economy in the first quarter of 2011 - notably wholesale and manufacturing sales - dragged down retail sales for a second month in a row. Enenajor notes that, absent the automotive sector, retail sales gained 0.7 per cent in February.

Sales of motor vehicles and automotive parts fell 0.6 per cent in February, the third consecutive month-overmonth decline.

"The main contributor was a 0.6-per-cent drop at new car dealers," Statistics Canada said. "Lower sales were also reported at automotive parts, accessories and tire stores (down 0.3 per cent) and at other motor vehicle dealers (down 1.7 per cent). The exception was used-car dealers (up 0.5 per cent), where sales increased for the fifth time in six months."

Earlier this week, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's inflation rate rose 1.1 per cent in March, to 3.3 per cent annually. While nine of the 10 sectors measured for the retail sales report advanced in February, the area largely responsible for the increase in the inflation rate was also driving most of the gains in retail sales in February - gasoline, with 1.3 per cent increase in sales due to rising gas prices. Sales of clothing and accessories, also noted in the inflation report, were up 2.5 per cent; and food and beverage sales rose 0.3 per cent.

Ontario contributed the most to the national gain in sales, and Quebec contributed the most to the "dampening" of the sales numbers, Statistics Canada says.

Retail chain fights the online wave




Three years ago, the large electronics retailer known as CompUSA was sold to a private group who announced they were closing all 103 of their stores. In 2009, Circuit City declared bankruptcy and turned out the lights on over 560 stores nationwide. Then, out of the blue, one company stepped in and bought them both.

That firm – Systemax – is out to prove wrong all of the people who said that retail tech stores were dinosaurs, soon to be replaced by the growing consumer preference for buying online. So far, Systemax is getting the last laugh.

In their last quarterly report, Systemax reported 14% growth in total sales on a record $862 million in U.S. dollars. Make no mistake about it: both CompUSA and Circuit City would have been breaking out the caviar and champagne if they had seen quarterly growth rates anything close to that when they finally went under.

Asked by this columnist whether “brick and mortar” electronics retailing is headed for the graveyard, Systemax,’s CEO of their Technology Group, Gilbert Fiorentino, stares at his questioner for a moment then actually growls. “There will always be a place for retail stores,” he says with a certainty that leaves no room for doubt.

“Both CompUSA and Circuit City didn’t have an identity,” explains Fiorentino. He’s set out to change that by retooling the in-store shopping experience through what he calls “Retail 2.0.”

If you go to a CompUSA store today, the experience is now different. In front of each TV on sale is a keyboard that allows a shopper to check for product reviews, get information from the TV’s user manual, and even check competing prices via the Web. And the benefits work both ways. Not only does the shopper get information about what they are interested in buying, Systemax can also track which products are getting the most attention too. That’s valuable knowledge in the competitive and fast moving world of consumer electronics.

The store’s floor staff are fully commissioned, another interesting difference from some of their larger competitors. “We want our sales associates motivated to be out on the floor meeting customers, not sitting in the store break room yacking about last weekend’s ballgame,” says one company official.

Amid signs that Wall Street is starting to take more of an interest in what Systemax is doing, the company has been moving cautiously. They tested their Retail 2.0 marketing concepts in Florida, and have been slowly reopening CompUSA stores in large cities like Houston and Chicago. If you want to see a Systemax-branded store in action in the Bay Area, forget it. There aren’t any yet in California, and company officials flatly refuse to comment on any expansion plans for the largest state.

Their caution is probably with good reason. Despite Systemax’s recent success in acquiring two failed chains and generating respectable sales, they know they are up against the biggest of the “big box” retailers in WalMart and Best Buy, plus the ever-present attraction of online shopping. Whether you shop with your fingers or your feet, it remains to be seen if Systemax’s efforts to combine both will keep you coming back for more.

Another L&L Store Shuts Down




Financial struggles force the closure of another local grocery store, a major letdown for longtime shoppers of the Haslett L&L Food Center. The store will shut its doors for good after serving the community for nearly 15 years.

Erica Prysby, former employee: "It breaks my heart."

It's an emotional blow, one that hits close to home for Erica Prysby. She made friends and memories working at the Haslett L&L Food Center back in 2000, but now all she can do is sit back and watch as the store shuts down for good.

Erica Prysby: "It's very sad that it's closing, it breaks my heart, I don't want to see it go, it was a great store."

Amherst Partners, the company now controlling L&L, planned to close the store through the weekend. Regardless, an Amherst spokesperson says the store didn't make enough profits to support itself, so Amherst couldn't keep it open.

Spokesperson: "In the receivership, we're required to fund all operations through our own cash that we generate from sales, and because of the low level of sales in the Haslett store, we're not able to support that store as a stand-alone entity."

But the reasoning offers little solace to longtime shoppers.

Preeti Gadola, shopper: "We would stop here all the time to pick up milk and fruit, it was just so convenient, you would always see other people from Haslett, your friends, people in the community, it's just very sad to see them go."

But for now shoppers will have to look elsewhere to get their groceries, because the Haslett staple is no longer an option. The Amherst spokesman says there are 15 interested buyers for the three remaining L&L stores. Those are in Lansing, East Lansing and Okemos. Bids for those stores are due on January 28th. Amherst hopes to auction them off by the first or second of February.

Goodwill Stores Open New Year's Eve




Right after the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for Goodwill donation centers.

"People are cleaning out after the holiday and then we really don't get a lot until Spring cleaning" said Jerry Cook, the Plant Operations Manager for the Air Base Boulevard store.

2010 was a very good year for Goodwill. It also had a strong post-holiday donation season.

Friday is the last day anyone could donate in order to receive a tax deduction for 2010. Each Goodwill store in the area also has a table with paperwork for anyone to file for their deduction after donating.

Cook said, "Today we have a lot of donors are coming in. This is our Black Friday if you will. Most people coming in today and tomorrow, we'll get the bulk of our donations."

Goodwill stores will be open until 5:00PM New Year's Eve to accept donations.

If you have any extra clothes you don't wear anymore or anything, Cook says you should make your way to a Goodwill store.

"We just encourage everybody to look in your closet again, see what's in there, you know, we need your donations."

Circuit City Stores




Circuit City Stores, Inc. (Pink Sheets: CCTYQ) was an American retailer in brand-name consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software, and (until 2000) large appliances. The company opened its first store in 1949 and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s.[1] Circuit City liquidated its final American retail stores in 2009 following a bankruptcy filing and subsequent failure to find a buyer.

The "Circuit City" brand is now owned by Systemax, which uses the brand to sell electronics as an online retailer. On May 11, 2009, Systemax bought the brand, trademark and e-commerce business at an auction from Circuit City Stores, Inc. Systemax had earlier acquired CompUSA and TigerDirect which now operate as online retailers. Systemax in April 2009 signed a stalking horse agreement for $6.5 million which is an initial offer for the bankrupt company's assets.[2]

At the time of liquidation, Circuit City was the second largest U.S. electronics retailer, after Best Buy. There were 567 Circuit City Superstores nationwide, ranging in size from 15,000 to 45,000 square feet (1400 to 4000 m²), when the company announced total liquidation. 155 of the stores were closed when the company initially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2008 in an attempt to continue operations. However, attributing its ultimate demise to the lack of consumer spending and overall economic downturn during the late 2000s recession, Circuit City began liquidation of its remaining stores on January 16, 2009, and the remaining stores were all closed on or before March 8, 2009.[3][4][5]

In January 2010, the main Circuit City headquarters building was placed up for sale. The five-story 288,650-square-foot (26,816 m2) office building, Deep Run I, had been appraised at $46.2 million. New York-based Lexington Property Trust, defaulted on a $17 million commercial mortgage and the lender foreclosed on the property. An asking price has since been set at $11 million.[6][7][8]

The former headquarters was sold in September 2010, for $3 million to DRCC Properties, LLC. They also bought the 8 acres (32,000 m2) of land that the building sits on for $2.75 million

Wards


Samuel S. Wurtzel studied accounting and got the idea to open a television store while on vacation. Abraham L. Hecht joined Wurtzel as a partner. Both founders, Hecht and Wurtzel, died in 1985.[10]

In 1932, Samuel S. Wurtzel opened the first Wards Company retail store in Richmond, Virginia, at 705 West Broad Street.[11] (Wards Company and Circuit City are completely unrelated to the other former retailer that went out of business in the 2000s, Montgomery Ward. The name "Wards" was actually an acronym of the founder's last initial and the initials of members of his family (W = Wurtzel; A = Alan; R = Ruth; D = David; S = Sam).)[12]

By 1959, Wards Company operated four television and home appliance stores in Richmond. The company continued to grow and acquired stores in other locations including Albany, New York; Mobile, Alabama; Washington, DC; and Costa Mesa, California. During the 1970s and early 1980s it also sold mail-order under the name Dixie Hifi, advertising in the hifi magazines of the day. In Richmond, Wards experimented with several retail formats including smaller mall outlets branded "Sight-n-Sound" and "Circuit City". Sight-n-Sound and Circuit City stores were replaced by the Circuit City Superstore format

Change to Circuit City



Wards Company officially changed its name to Circuit City and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984.[13] One of the company's early slogans was "Circuit City — Where the Streets are Paved with Bargains." The company, which had leased floor space from the Zody's department stores as well as other department stores, began acquiring retail stores and turning them into Circuit City Superstores. The first of these replacements occurred in Knoxville, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; and Hampton, Virginia. In 1981, Circuit City entered the New York City market by acquiring the six remaining stores of the bankrupt Lafayette Radio chain.[14] They operated the stores under the "Lafayette/Circuit City" name and expanded to 15 locations, but the stores were not profitable and were closed in 1986 after spending US$20 million to enter the market.[15] Wurtzel served as president of the company until 1970. He remained the chairman until 1984.[11] When he stepped down,.