anything under 7 cheap cheap cheap. good div. just paid. chart looks sick

Know doubt about it cynicit is tough out there on the high streetsI saw 150 off an Archos {mp4] in Currysnever been known scary in fact!

with the apparent exception of ASOS, retail is worse than flat on its back ...... fashion industry is in dire straits with companies closing, orders being slashed and, almost without exception, no one recruiting.

on the chemical side, BASF are shutting 25% of their production and sacking 20,000 ..... but Germany is merely contemplating injecting some sort of stimulus, as of course it is immune for these problems, other than its banks which are collapsing!

Worse conditions I've ever known.....and here we are looking at the markets as possible investors, dear oh dearie me !, euuhhh ! sorry I mean "shorters" ! (sounds better) !.

yes River Island is cool.

pardon ?!.

Thought I would write a X'mas carol to cheer things up at M&S...


You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why
Recession is already in town

It's hitting you once,
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise
Recession is already in town

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is already in town

Structured products are confusing
Most products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk
So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why
Recession is already in town.

The sale was a huge success so much so dont rule out another shortly.some comments:-
Queuing to get into the car park at Cheshunt M&S yesterday ...
Quite amazing

Judging by the crowds at M&S, Brent Cross, the sale was a huge success. I had to pay for my clothes downstairs at the food checkout, so long were the queues upstairs in the clothing section
.
From what I see today on the outskirts of Glasgow their stores are chok a block full!!!
Chichester Marks and Spencers packed solid with shoppers

Just been into the York city centre M&S....
Very, very busy on ground floor (food/booze).....huge queues at all the tills...noticed that most shopping baskets contained a bottle of wine or two (20% off) and a load of food (no discount). One member of staff near warehouse door joked to a colleague that they should bring out some money boxes and calculators 'cos the tills were overrun.
Went upstairs (to clothes) again it was bedlam...in fact, I gave up after a minute or so

these are all the very reasons why i wouldnt want to shop there.
cant park easily? crowds. can't pay quickly etc.etc.it's just not what i consider a happy shopping experience. oh well i might come back when the crowd and hype disperses. i might not.thats all it is,short term hype.
regards
jkd

JKD.not to worry Lidl is just down the roadthey do a nice range in acrylic tank tops and florescent triangles just in case your car ever brakes down?
And you can do hand brake turns in the car park!
Regards
tabasco

did management employ extra staff and make extra tills available so that i have a happy experience?
are they listening?
regards
jkd

and was yesterday's big biz just a freak due to the 20% discount for one day only?

JKDmy wife made sure all her possible staff were in for the saleand every till open.... she herself was visiting another storenobody believed it was going to be such a success but they prepared as best they could.and yes cynic yesterday was a freakI have a feeling we will be seeing a couple of more freaks before Xmas.

the real prob is the lack of confidence and thus peeps just will not spend, even if they have money ..... thus, though a couple of promotional days looks good, it does bugger all to improve results overall

cynic
thats what i was mostly referring to.
i think they missed out here. a 20% one day sale seems to have shown them up.
had they got it right they might have gained and retained a lot of new customers.
as it is it smacks of panic. a 2/3 day sale with extra staff and more tills available would surely have given a much better shopping experience for us consumers and encouraged us to return in the long term. how many regular customers might they have lost due to
this one day experience?
are they listening?
jkd

t
is your wife on the board?
thats the management i refer to. if not, i'm sure she does her very best but even that on a local level is much restricted by board level decisions and instructions from head office etc.
do they listen?
regards
jkd

JKDlistenthere were extra staffall the tills were opennow do you get it?.Cynic it costs serious money to store stockafter Xmas it would have been sold off at 50% discount anywayso I would say a clever move and one step ahead of their rivals IMHO.

I must also mention food sales was up and not discounted. [dine for two apart..which is virtually a loss leader]

t
yep
i get it.
so whats new?
regards
jkd

JKDpeople dont want a shopping experiencethey wont quality and cheap at Xmasgo to Harrods if you just want a shopping experienceI bet you dont get many of your Xmas presents turn up in that green bag.
You sound like a miserable old sod that moans about money being heavy!
Regards
tabasco

heavy?
Ali Baba,so it is said, is so rich, he doesnt count his wealth, he weighs it.
regards
jkd