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Oh, Lord (Byte Dancing Into August Volatility)
Lord & Taylor filed for Chapter 11 on Sunday in Richmond, Virginia, a stark reminder of the dire circumstances facing the hardest-hit sectors of the US economy, which we now know contracted an unthinkable 32.9% (annualized, of course) in the second quarter.
The oldest US department store joins the likes of Neiman Marcus and J. Crew in seeking bankruptcy protection after pandemic lockdowns laid waste to retailers already struggling to adapt to a rapidly evolving operating environment.
Along
Sure, the virus has dealt a hammer blow to retailers, but so have greedy landlords and feckless mayors and city council members in the pocket of real estate developers. Before we pound the last nail in the coffin of real-world retailers, ask yourselves: How many items have you bought online over the last five months that weren’t as advertised, didn’t fit, were cheaply made, and were next to impossible to return? Online retail is having a great run, but this too shall pass (or revert to something like a mean). #ShopLocal
Your defense of brick and mortar retailers is spirited (and commendable). That said, the comeback that you are predicting would be akin to a resurrection. The retail wars are essentially over and are currently already in the mop up phase.
There will always be a place for brick and mortar retail establishments for perishable goods along with any number of other niches (from big ticket items to luxury goods, etc..). However, any sort of reversion to a mean between the current state of retail and the halcyon days of malls and superstores is a pipe dream.
As a footnote, returns on Amazon are fair and easy.
I own part of a small town main street retail store and July 2020 sales were up 15% over July 2019. This is in spite of the fact that we reduced store hours, restricted the number of customers in the store at any given time, and we are having problems ordering in certain product lines so are struggling to keep the store stocked. I am not sure what is going on but I am afraid it is going to end if congress does not act.
Inflation may be a-coming as Mike Wilson of Morgan Stanley says. Comments on his last piece would highly be appreciated, Mr H.