Mild Temperatures Dampen US Retail

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 29, ISSUE 47, FEBRUARY 6, 2006
The following extract is reproduced with permission from Sandy Parker Reports, Weekly International Fur News. Sandy Parker has been covering the fur industry for more than four decades. For most of that time he has published a weekly newsletter, detailing results of international pelt auctions, wholesale price trends, business developments and movements in the trade, as well as economic and political activities that may impact on it.
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International Fur News
with Sandy Parker
Mild Temperatures Dampen US Retail
JANUARY, TRADITIONALLY ONE OF THE THREE BIGGEST MONTHS IN FUR RETAILING, turned out to be a disappointment for most American retailers, who attributed the poor showing almost entirely to the mild temperatures that prevailed throughout the month. But, while the January figures may adversely affect the results for some retailers whose fiscal year ends Jan. 31 or later, most of those who operate on a calendar-year basis are reporting 2005 was a winner.
Not that January was a disaster, rather that it simply fell far short of expectations, given the item’s current popularity. Retailers reported that they did business every day, but that the traffic was nothing near what it should have been for that time of the year. According to the U.S. Weather Service, it was an exceptionally mild month for most of the country. This was in sharp contrast to the frigid readings in Russia, Northern China and elsewhere, where fur sales were booming. But much of Western Europe also was experiencing a mild January and fur sales suffered there as well.
MANUFACTURERS NOW ARE BUSY GETTING THEIR NEW COLLECTIONS IN SHAPE, some already poised to show their lines as early as this month. An increasing number of them have been exhibiting at established ready-to-wear shows, such as the semi-annual MAGIC show held in Las Vegas, which attract tens of thousands of department, specialty store and boutique buyers from North America and abroad. In recent years, these enterprising manufacturers have opened up new accounts that never otherwise would have shopped their lines, but bought because they liked what they saw in their regular shopping environment. Their purchases are displayed in non-fur areas of their stores, but usually close to outerwear, sportswear or accessories. That those buyers have come back in successive years would indicate they have done well with furs.
IN THIS ISSUE:
January Disappoints Retailers
Abnormally Mild Weather Cited But Most Had a Good Year
Mink Prices Seen Rising Again
Bid-Rigging Arraignment Set
For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Index. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.
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