Record Number of Store Closings
Some 144,000 stores will close this year, up 7% from last year. That is the largest one-year increase in the 14 years that the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has tracked the figures.
The number is even more sobering considering that the ICSC up until now has been projecting 6,500 store closures this year. Why the big difference? The smaller number represents how many closings the trade group predicts will be announced, mostly by national retailers that are publicly held. The government data at the core of the new projection give a broader view of all store closings, including those by independent and privately held retailers that make up the majority of the U.S. store base.
The prediction bodes poorly for owners of malls and shopping centers. U.S. retail properties posted a hefty vacancy rate of 7.8% in the second quarter, according to market-research firm Reis Inc.
In context, there are more than 1.1 million retail establishments in the U.S., according to the 2002 census, the latest to track the figure. And the number of new stores opened each year often comes close to the number closed, even in tough times, the ICSC report says. In 2006, for example, 123,000 new stores opened and 139,000 closed. Store-opening figures aren't tallied until after the end of each year.
Premiumization Continues
Whatever did we do before Tasmanian Rain bottled water, captured from the skies overlooking Australia's big southern island, supposedly the purest skies on Earth? The product, launched in January, is sold for up to $25 per 750-milliliter bottle at high-end hotels, including the Tides Hotel and Turberry Isles in Miami and Bal Harbour Towers in Bal Harbour, Fla.
Spokesperson Kelley Blevins said the New York-based company is benefiting from an upward trend in the upscale market. "We are finding that not only are luxury consumers demanding exquisite packaging and superior quality of the product itself, they also are increasingly intent on acquiring the most helpful ingredients possible for achieving good health," Blevins said.
Even as most American consumers tell pollsters that they are cutting their spending because of high gasoline prices, the London-based Datamonitor research firm estimates that the global luxury market will jump 71 percent to hit $450 billion by 2012.
"Premiumization" is already well-established. No sector, product, or industry will escape a premium version this year, says www.trendwatching.com, an Amsterdam-based Web site.
Electronics is a prime example. Laptop computers, Bluetooth handsets and computer mice decorated with Swarovski crystals are going for thousands of dollars.
Read the full story at http://www.ajc.com/search/content/business/
stories/2008/07/21/luxury_spending.html
