So far I think he has done quite well under very difficult and trying circumstances, ... He's making the store more appealing and easier to shop, and has been reviewing the product mix for the last several months now and we have seen some very favorable shopper response.

These two companies gave a must-have lesson for all retailers, Sharper Image combed the globe for unusual and exciting products that weren't run-off-the-mill ... Retailers made the mistake of taking customers for granted and the payoff came two weeks ago in much weaker Christmas sales because of ho-hum kind of merchandise.

One word - dismal. There's nothing else to be said but absolutely dismal.

They feel they no longer need to go broke when they go shopping,

July was a washout, a bust, whichever way you want to call it, unless you were a discount retailer,

This is actually a little worse than I expected, and particularly bad when viewed within the context of a year ago, which was already very weak.