If you were to go into either the Home Depot or Lowes where I regularly shop, you would probably find no more than one cash wrap desk open, and as we say in Texas, you could shoot a cannon in any direction without the worry of injuring a customer.
These are huge stores in affluent neighborhoods where there are almost always the bustle of customers.
So this must be the dreaded evidence that business there is way off...when not even many contractors are there picking up supplies for their jobs...probably because there are no jobs.
Wondering if what I suspected were true, I asked several of the employees in each store. It seems that one of the biggest problems has been unavailability of consumer credit.
Those 6 months without interest credit offers have dried up. Hardly anyone qualifies anymore.
And that's what these merchants endangered themselves with when they farmed out their receivables to banks without taking back recourse, and by depending on factors for replenishing capital.
Lowes and Home Depot and Best Buy and Dillards and on and on can't stay in the black unless consumer credit reappears in a hurry.
So the spicket that was flowing money in gushers is now dispensing a drip every now and then.
Bill,
Good post. I'm thinking it will just take some time. I suspect Christmas sales will be down big time this year.
This is the biggest reason why huge companys like GM etc. shouldn't be fored to declare Bankruptcy at this point in time....in this Market they wouldn't be able to re-structure cause they couldn't get money. It's a heck of a situation and I think it's going to last a lot longer than through Christmas....a lot longer!
You're right, Miss Joanie. But interestingly, the amount they are wanting from the government is more than it would take to buy the companies, lock stock and barrel. So I don't understand how they determined how much they will need.
Thanks for your comments, Richard. I'm sure you're right. Sales will certainly see a big drop from last year's.
Bill
They are still getting my money. Having to make hurricane repairs has cost a small fortune. In fact, our local Lowes is booming because of the hurricane.