#nyc retail

[vmsdmagazine]

Westfield's temporary holiday market was the ideal complement to The Oculus' interior (more: http://www.vmsd.com/content/next-stop-innovation-part-vi) | Photography: Emily Good, New York

[vmsdmagazine]

FAO Schwarz is back in Manhattan, three years after it closed its Fifth Avenue landmark, promoting a “return to wonder” | Photography: Richard Cadan, Fairfield, Conn. (more: http://www.vmsd.com/content/wonderland)

[vmsdmagazine]

Jacob & Co. unveils its remodeled New York flagship on 57th Street (more: http://www.vmsd.com/content/set-stone) | Photography: Seth Caplan, New York

[notesonnewyork]

Absurd New York #86

When your plans for the weekend suddenly get better. 

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(Photo by Riff Chorusriff. As advertised on 31st Street near Hoyt Avenue North in Astoria, Queens. September 22, 2017.)

[rosshaxton]

Google, Soho

For a Pop-up store, Google’s new flagship in Soho NYC certainly achieves the brief - to create a sudden buzz of excitement for their new range of tech products. With a top of the range digital phone (with a special light adjusting camera function), voice activation for home functions (such as light dimming) and a virtual reality experience, Google has put down a strong challenge to its established tech neighbour the Apple store. According to the staff (who brim with helpful enthusiasm), visitors queued in lines around the block when the store opened, to catch a glimpse of this inspirational, experiential environment. Worth a look, before it moves to a more permanent residence!

[emilyjfox-blog-blog]

ShopperTrak's Holiday Retail Predictions—Naughty or Nice?

For retailers, this holiday season may be naughty, or it may be nice. It depends on which piece of the data you’re looking at. A report put out by ShopperTrak, a company that specializes in shopper-traffic counting technology and data analysis, shows that there’s both good news and bad news for this year’s holiday retail forecast, an important indicator of the economy.

Let’s start with the good.

ShopperTrak predicts a 3 percent rise in national retail sales during November to December compared to this same period last year, which will mark 19 consecutive months of retail growth.

Are you feeling the holiday hopeful spirit?

Well, here's the bad:

Those numbers are down compared to last year’s 4.1 percent retail sales increase from 2009. Foot traffic will also decrease by 2.2 percent this holiday season, due to what ShopperTrak blames as a mix of rising gas prices and unemployment rates. The average number of stores per trip shoppers have visited so far in 2011 has already decreased from 3.19 to 3.1, much less than the 4 or 5 stores per visit that shoppers went to prior to 2008 and the start of the recession.

And it's not just ShopperTrak predicting these trends, the Associated Press reports:

The sales prediction, which matches the outlook from the International Council of Shopping Centers on Friday, would be below last year’s 4.1 percent spike — and the 5-plus percent gains during boom economic times. But it’s still above the 2.6 percent average gain over the last 10 years and is considered respectable growth given the down economy.

“Clearly, consumers will remain surgical in their spending,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak, co-founder. “But the Christmas season should still be quite satisfactory.”

With the number of shoppers entering stores this upcoming season decreasing, retailers have to do everything in their power to first lure customers in and then entice them to spend, Andrea Chang of the Los Angeles Times explains:

The group said retail momentum had been good lately but that there were economic roadblocks ahead that could dampen sales.

...

"Converting fewer numbers of shoppers to buyers has never been more important for retailers," [ShopperTrak] said.

The tough economy may be stopping shoppers from picking up low-priced items, but spurring traffic for higher end goods, MarketWatch's Andria Cheng writes:

Lower-priced apparel and accessories specialty stores may be forced to reduce prices to compete with discount chains. Higher-end stores, on the other hand, may be a winner this holiday season, ShopperTrak said.

Luxury retailers such as Saks Inc., Tiffany & Co. and Nordstrom Inc. have outpaced their lower-priced rivals. Saks Chief Executive Steve Sadove recently told MarketWatch that its upscale shoppers are gravitating toward higher-priced purchases and the company has reduced discount sales.

On the lower end of the price spectrum, discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc.  has brought back its layaway service to lure shoppers who couldn’t afford to pay for purchases of electronics and toys in one shot. It has said it would cut some popular holiday toys to $15 and said that it expects to widen its price gap with its rivals to maintain its low-price leadership perception.

These numbers could mean real consequences for stores and their employees, according to 24/7 Wall Street's Douglas McIntyre:

Retail sales are still one of the most vicious cycles in the economy. Poor consumer spending pressures retail profits. That in turn triggers lay-offs. People laid off are not likely to visit malls and stores. The cycle has been in place for almost all of the holiday shopping months over the past four years.

Many economist expect GDP growth in the fourth quarter to be as low as 1%. That is probably not enough to support the International Council of Shipping Centers forecast of 3% retail growth in the final two months of the year. If 2008 and 2009 are any indications, thousands of stores will close in January of 2012, and that will cost the economy tens of thousand of jobs.