Kurt Barnard Less Quotations

When the full story is reached at the end of the quarter, retail profits will be less impressive, especially in apparel. There was nothing in the display windows (of clothiers) to incite cautious customers to buy.

Are consumers buying more? I don't know. I think what Wal-Mart said about people spending less of the rebate money this year in stores is significant. It shows people prefer to save any extra money than spend it.

Americans, for one reason or another, have not given up on their infatuation with SUVs that guzzle gas by the gallons. But there's only so much money to go around. If people are paying more to drive their cars, they will have less money to spend on other things.

Americans are less secure. There's an uneasiness in the air and a tendency to look over one's shoulder more often.

Its formula is essentially one that appeals to just about everybody, and that takes advantage of a fundamental need -- pay less than you have to elsewhere, ... It is a totally irresistible formula that, so long as there is such a thing as buying and selling, will not fail.

Everybody is worried about a soft landing for the economy and a contraction of consumer spending. And come Christmas it will be far less exciting than a year ago. The high cost at the gas pump is beginning to take its toll and for a lot of families spending an extra $20-to-$25 a month on gasoline means spending that much less on stores.

If you stash money away in a savings account, then there's less available to buy things in a store, from candy to cars. This is not quite the conventional retrenchment we've known from past recessions, but it may represent a kind of wishy-washy stagnation.