Retail Sales Unexpectedly Rebound in January

Read the post from questioningall, in reality sales were DOWN 10% from last year.

Up 1% from last month which was a down month (3%) during the year, not even compared to the previous year.

It's number juggling to make things SOUND good, when in fact, they are very, very bad

I think a lot of it is tax returns. People have been wanting things for awhile now that they haven't been able to get, and now they've got a chunk of money so they make bad decisions and go spend it.

It would be much wiser to put that money in savings or to pay off debt, but they want stuff.

At Wal-Mart, our TV's are flying off the shelf. I've never seen them sell so fast. We'll get a shipment in of the cheap Vizio or Sanyo brands and the whole shipment is gone in a few hours.

Of course, the Super Bowl is how our stock got so low to begin with... I'm in Pennsylvania. :-)

Obviously though... I'm only speaking for what I've seen in my own department in my own store...

reply to post by tide88


Ok, they can say retail, but what kind of retail. Are we talking food and clothing or are we talking consumer electronics? What is it we're talking here. Without knowing where people are buying the most it is really hard to tell whether this is a glimmer of hope or not.

reply to post by redhatty


Good call here. Of course they're manipulating data. That's why some people think that the CPI is higher than it actually is.

Retail sales did not grow in real terms.

People's wallets were frozen for 3 months. A delayed effect, they went out and bought whatever they'd put off getting but needed.

It was also a super-delayed Boxing Day phenomenon. December Christmas shopping sent shivers to so many.

And prices on many things are being sold at way below cost as retailers and wholesalers are starved for cash. Blowouts on everything.

2009 is Boxing Year.


Mike F