George Whalin Quotations

We're continuing to see retailers cite the weather for either making or breaking their sales numbers. Frankly, I think is an excuse tailored to satisfy Wall Street. Wall Street is a little more forgiving if a major retailer blames weather for disappointing sales.

Lowe's and Home Depot may have got caught in the middle of this. Retailers are under tremendous pressure by Wall Street to keep growing.... Should that be at the cost of a community? I don't think so.

Lowe's and Home Depot may have got caught in the middle of this, ... Retailers are under tremendous pressure by Wall Street to keep growing.... Should that be at the cost of a community? I don't think so.

Security and privacy concerns, especially with RFID chip technology, are enormous,

Some companies will certainly take advantage of any reason to raise prices. However, when your business is dependent on fleet of vehicles, gas prices may become a legitimate reason for raising prices.

One thing everyone looks at when you get down to that part of the county is how much business you will get from Mexico. That is a very important part of the equation.

On the other hand, every major retailer subscribes to weather consulting firms that give seasonal forecasts over a period of a year in advance. They can better plan inventory accordingly.

I would be very surprised if Kmart doesn't completely go away in the two to three years, or become something completely different,

If they're in the middle of remodeling this shopping center, they're not going to stop until they finish it. They can't realize their investment until they complete construction.

If they're going to reposition their place in the market, this is the way to do it, ... It's a very wise move.

China's distribution networks aren't as sophisticated as in the United States, especially away from the major cities. Finding the right location is critical. Retailers will have to tailor their marketing, promotions and merchandising to fit local tastes.

I think the women's business is much tougher than anything else they have been in. It doesn't seem like a natural extension to me. They have begun to get a better selection of merchandise and the business is getting better, but they don't have a real track record here yet.

Retailers have to be aggressive in the coming weeks. Those with attractive discounts will do well.

Retailers are putting a great spin on this, saying that the customer benefits in the end. However, the self-checkout is not driven by customer service but by the retailer's objective to reduce costs.

I think people are nervous about their jobs and when people get nervous about their jobs, they get very careful about spending.

I think May deciding to sell its Chicago stores to Federated is a very real possibility, ... Federated desperately wants more of a presence in the Midwestern market.

We're still trying to figure out what they're doing. The jury is still out on whether Kmart is even going to survive.

Typically, when a mall falls on hard times, it never recovers. They end up being torn down.

When you look at any shopping center these days, the risk issue is significant. Except maybe at Fashion Valley.

This was life-and-death for them, ... They had to make some moves to make this thing profitable.

Discounters and apparel are the heart and soul of this period simply because there are so many kids today that are going to school,

The shopping buddy is an interesting concept but it's essentially an experiment. The future of traditional supermarkets isn't that good right now and companies operating in the channel have to find ways to capture the consumer's attention.

These little niche markets such as banking and publishing don't make economic sense for Wal-Mart,

Technological innovation always precedes demand. It's not necessarily what the market wants or is willing to adapt to,

No retailer can afford to underestimate the importance of good marketing and public relations. Target also comes across as a better corporate citizen than Wal-Mart because it makes it a point to inform people about its efforts to give back to communities.

The whole consumer electronics industry is seeing a flattening of their business this summer.

The upper end of the economy has done very well and the stock market is at a 3-1/2 year high. This bodes well for the high-end merchants. Discounters would have had a hard time because their customers were impacted by higher gas prices and uncertainty about jobs.

This convenience issue is enormous, and it has less to do with saving money than with saving time.

This is a banner year for online retail sales. The weather was an enormous factor for the big holiday sales numbers. The other factor is that consumers are much more comfortable using the Internet and they're appreciating the convenience of it.

They need to be rid of (Rampage) as soon as possible.

There was overall confidence in the consumer's mind, with jobs stable and gasoline prices going down.

There isn't going to be any doubt that they're going to close some stores. It may be substantial.

There's business to be had. The driving factors are the catalog and Internet guys.

A couple decent quarters do not a turnaround make. The competitive issues haven't changed that much. February sales looked better but they're also set against easier comparisons. There's still a long way to go until a real turnaround.

It's a highly volatile business and simply not Wal-Mart's specialty. Let's not forget that Sears tried getting into a lot of other businesses -- it was selling insurance, it had a car rental service, a credit card business. It turned out to be a disaster.

It's a highly volatile business and simply not Wal-Mart's specialty, ... Let's not forget that Sears tried getting into a lot of other businesses -- it was selling insurance, it had a car rental service, a credit card business. It turned out to be a disaster.

It's all about jobs. As long as people are confident about their jobs and being able to find one, they will spend. The job market so far is holding up well.

The no. 1 domestic growth driver will be grocery. Wal-Mart has a lot of room to grow there. It's already the No. 1 grocer in Texas.

That's pretty lofty, and maybe a little unrealistic.

It's not a coincidence that we're hearing China come up so much lately. Many companies were simply waiting to observe Wal-Mart's mistakes first and then plan their entry.

It's not a coincidence that we're hearing China come up so much lately, ... Many companies were simply waiting to observe Wal-Mart's mistakes first and then plan their entry.

They have significant challenges ahead. May stores had a lot of loyal customers, and it won't be easy to convert them.

They've got locations that Wal-Mart would die for. They're in visible locations in communities where people spend money. There's no reason this thing can't be turned around.

The retail business in general is strong, and Federated is doing well, considering it has stores in major cities such as New York and San Francisco, where the affluent shopper is driving a lot of sales.

If you're not wanted in one neighborhood, California is big enough for retailers to find someplace else where they will be welcome.

If the mall has other good stores in it, they shouldn't have any problem attracting other retailers.

I realize that these folks have got a cause but they hurt the smaller retailers. The boycott hurts them worse than anybody.

Generally retailers would like to have employees come to the store when they most need them. They want to staff stores when they are the busiest, like on weekends, near the holidays or when the weather is good or bad.

If it hasn't been done yet, they're way, way behind the curve,

I don't think the union-based special interest groups and the government are two separate issues. I think they're tied together. Now more than ever Wal-Mart is facing a lot of pressure coming from so many different directions. I think that's why Wal-Mart is putting more effort into communicating with the media.

He's not a retailer. He's never been a retailer. The guy who's running merchandizing and marketing is not a guy who's qualified to do that. This is baffling to me. It's mind-boggling.

He's not a retailer. He's never been a retailer, ... The guy who's running merchandizing and marketing is not a guy who's qualified to do that. This is baffling to me. It's mind-boggling.

These are not cookie-cutter businesses. They require unique discipline and mind set.

The department store business has gone through enormous changes in the last 10 years and we aren't through yet. It's a retail format that doesn't have a great future in it. Consumers have decided traditional department stores aren't their favorite places to shop.

All these new gimmicks are very interesting but the jury's still out about their impact on the consumer or if they'll be cost-effective in the long run ... People don't shop at a store because of one thing but a combination of factors. Even if shoppers like the fancy technology, a rude employee can turn them away from the store.