Today ” Family Dollar Stores Inc.
on Wednesday projected fourth-quarter and fiscal-year profits that
would beat current Wall Street predictions, citing expectations of a
sales increase in lower costs.”
Meanwhile higher end jewelry stores, such as Fortunoff, have been forced to close, due to the recession. The luxury market is hurting; we’ve heard about Saks, Nordstrom, and even Tiffany & Co. These stores are hanging in there, but sales and profits are way down and not expected to rebound for quite some time.
Back at Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart and Costco the outlook is brighter. I was speaking with an accountant this week who told me of one of her clients, the owner of a high end, “luxury” restaurant. Even she was amazed at the drop in his profits for the last 6-9 months. He has cut hours and people, but refuses to cut the quality, and price, of the food he offers. “People come here for a reason: to have the best quality food they can buy” and know they will have to pay for it. Well, that may be changing. Given the choice, they may just opt for the lower price point……no matter what their budget.
