Cotton Pricing in Play as Demand Rises

More details on the expected cotton inflation.

Penney’s Expects Claiborne Sales to Double

Management is excited about Claiborne and Mango launches this Fall. Unfortunately, they were similarly excited about the American Living launch that bombed.

Amazon.com’s Kindle Fails First College Test

What a salesman. Jeff Bezos had the nerve to tell college students that the Kindle was especially suited for college students. They completely disagreed.

Retailers Temper Recovery Hopes With Caution

Was Q1 2010 a mirage?

U.K. Retail Sales Drop Amid Bad Weather, Political Uncertainty

It’s not just here in the U.S., sales are weak in the U.K. as well.

Strong Loonie Sets Off a Retail Tiff

Sears Canada is pressing suppliers to “give back” its FX benefit.

Cotton Tale: Apparel Prices Set to Rise

Lots of commentary on conference calls this week were focused on rising apparel/cotton prices.

Patricia Field Dishes on ‘SATC’

Will sales begin to shift from shoes to apparel? Also, PSS gets a nice plug.

Fast-Food Joints Flap Chicken As Ground Beef Hits New Highs

Cost of Ground Beef is forcing traditional fast food chains to think outside the bun.

Wal-Mart Asks Suppliers to Give Up Control of Their Deliveries

WMT is reaching further back in the supply chain.

Hhgregg Expands Aggressively on Bargain Leases

Just like the stock market, retailers tend to only sign leases in good times. Hhgregg is prudently taking advantage of the deals that can be had today.

China’s Retail Sales Up 18.5 Percent in April

Now, this is what I can an economic stimulus plan.

Footwear Companies Impacted by Extra Duties

While footwear sales have generally been on fire for the past 2-3 year (ex-PSS… a material underperformer), keep an eye on footwear margins.

Giuliani Named at Gap Brand to Oversee 1969 Jeans Collection

Likely a precursor to Patrick Robinson’s departure.

Videogame Sales Fall As Free Games Thrive

Videogame hardware AND software sales fall off a cliff. Yikes.

Sears Interim CEO Continues to Mark Time

Mr. Lampert continues to run this brand into the ground. Only he’s doing it via video conference from Greenwich, CT. It says here that he’s courted many potential CEOs. Would you want to work for this guy?

Retail Real Estate Sees Uptick

‘A’ Malls still command premium rents. It’s lower quality venues that are still asking for rents well below a few years ago.

J.C. Penney Spends to Get Ahead on Mobile Shoppers, Other Trends, Other Trends

Citigroup analyst Deborah Weinswig says that JCP is “willing to try things and make mistakes.” She’s right, JCP management has tried many things over the past 3 years that has helped yield its market share to smarter competitors such as KSS and M.

At Gap, Two Brands on Mend, One to Go

Mr. Robinson has been a tremendous disappointment for GPS. Our guess, he won’t be around to see his next “big, big next step.” His next step is out the door.

Sears Intensifies Apparel Push

Somehow we believe that SHLD has had an “apparel push” before… with no success. Today, they’re banking on a guy from Mervyn’s who apparently was such a “talent magnet” and had such an eye for apparel trends that the chain filed for Chapter 11. Keep moving, nothing to see here.