As costs rise, inflation's next front is retailers

[Popol Vuh]

NEW YORK (AP) — Coming to a store near you: Even higher prices. Most inflation this year has come from food and fuel, as retailers resisted passing along to strapped consumers the higher prices manufacturers charged them, but coming increases from companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Hasbro Inc. may leave them with no choice.

"While these increases have not for the most part been passed on at the retail level, it is inevitable that they will be at some point," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Car dealers and other retailers cannot continue to absorb rising costs at the wholesale level and not pass some of these increases on to consumers."


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iy9WGscgZUIUWlpqhKDMzrXmeonQD926AH8O0

[Captain Angry]

1. The holidays could be interesting.

If inflation is finally priced in, will people still buy their HDTV, Wii, and other toys?

[Popol Vuh]

2. Interesting indeed.

Plus, I work as a longshoreman and the amount of empty containers we send back as opposed to loaded ones keeps increasing every year.

[CrispyQ]

3. No white Christmas this year.

Even now, retailers see a blue Christmas

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu-christmas-in-julyjul24,0,5708944.story

snip...

There's no cheerful way to say it: Get ready for a sober Christmas season.

Yes, it's only July, but retailers already are deep in planning mode for the holiday season, and what they are sensing adds up to potential trouble, with some experts saying this could be the toughest environment in almost 30 years.

"What word should I use? Terrible? Horrible? Miserable?" said Homi Patel, chairman and chief executive of Hartmarx Corp., a Chicago-based clothing manufacturer of suits and sportswear, when asked to describe the 2008 holiday. "There is a time when the consumer isn't going to shop. It doesn't matter if it's 70 percent off or 80 percent off, the mind-set is, 'I just don't want to shop.' And that's something we haven't seen in quite some time."

[femmocrat]

4. I can't believe how many empty retail spaces there are now at the mall.

Even the Disney Store has moved out! The mall is like a ghost town lately.

Instead of a shoe store... there is now a massage parlor!

We went to Walmart today for some odds and ends and it was practically empty. It used to be packed on Sundays.

Just read this week that Boscov's (a regional family-owned chain of dept. stores) is possibly going bankrupt and is closing some stores.

:scared:

[DJ13]

5. "While these increases have not for the most part been passed on at the retail level"

Think the economy is in trouble now, just wait.

[pitohui]

6. who are they kidding? car dealers? no one is buying cars

they can put any price they want on an item that no one is going to buy anyway, it doesn't quite matter, does it?

no one can buy a new car/truck until after the election when we see what is going to happen with the oil/gas prices

like it or not, people will buy food and fuel (food for their vehicles and homes) and everything else has to come in second, if food/fuel prices stay crazy like this, the other retailers can slap any price they want on their crap, no one is going to buy it, i have a t shirt that is 30 years old, i have jeans that are 30 years old, at the end of the day, some things you simply don't have to buy, you can make do pretty much forever with what you got

[silverojo]

7. Meanwhile, thrift stores' business is booming

People can't afford to pay retail, so they're getting what they need at thrift stores. Kids are always going to outgrow their clothes, but parents don't always have to buy those new clothes at the mall....