Retail Chaps
 

Do you feel we are out of the recession yet?

Ignore the wafflebull from people who read blogs, i would like to hear it from the people who deal with the front lines

I launched a local 5000 leaflet campaign a few weeks back to test the water and we have had strong sales ever since, i suspect we might actually be making some headway now.

Planning a much larger leaflet campaign for the end of may :)

I would be a happy chappy if things stayed as they currently are, since the start of the credit waffle/crunch malarkey i have personaly lost quite a bit of wage, could have bought a brand new fecking STI outright for starters :( :nono:

Are things on the up then ?

Turnover is good at the moment but profit is poor. No money in the electronics side of retail as people are buying but the margins are pathetic on most must have items.

I work in financial software. Infact I bet 99% of you have used what I support.

I have seen the amounts we are sending to the bank every day rise since about christmas. It did drop but is close to where it was before this mess started.

I work in financial software. Infact I bet 99% of you have used what I support.

I have seen the amounts we are sending to the bank every day rise since about christmas. It did drop but is close to where it was before this mess started.

What recession?

Really, I have felt nothing .... that's not being arrogant either - I genuinely haven't felt anything ..... bar low interest on my savings which is a right bummer.

But, I have received good payrises for years ..... business is good - but, the election may well make me redundant - no problem there, as I wouldn't mind being paid off :thumb:

Times are good for those who have saved, cut costs and paid all their debts off ..... :thumb:

Those who borrowed to support a lifestyle they didn't deserve are getting hurt .... just the way it is - live within your means is my advice!

With the exception of bad weather this winter, which naturally had an impact on sales, we have done alot better than last year. I don't have all the figures to hand but even during the recession, we were effected but nowhere near as badly as some other retail outlets.

We get profit shares each year (obviously only if we make enough), and this year we actually got some. Last year we didn't, but saying that we didn't the year before and that was before the recession.

I would say on the whole we as a company have seen a definite improvement from this sort of time last year. It would appear things are on the up, if that is for sure, who knows.

One of my Clients is a Jeweller. You have no idea how much his sales have gone up.
They say there is no money in the North, he is raking it in. :eek:
Problem is, most of it is credit card. More debt!!

Same here really. I dont save with banks as interest is crap , prefer to go with high div shares which has paid off very nicely.

Getting redundancy next March with lovely big lump sum and I can draw a pension 1 yar later on reaching 50 which will also allow me to take a rather large tax free lump sum as well. Happy days. :thumb:

Chip

But pete :D

Before the recession i had no debt, and now i have a lot more than i would like :(

Rather then sack good quality staff, and have the associated headache of re finding some new ones later on i worked for around 6 months without even taking a wage to save a few jobs, looking back i am not so sure it was the right thing to do, but it would have meant me going back to working an 80 hour week, and i would rather not do that again as it tend to make me stressed.

If my missus was not on a reasonable wage, we would have been fecked, iirc i still owe 4k to the bloody tax man, (should have been paid ages ago) but they are being nice and letting me pay by installments, had the odd letter about bailiffs as well :rolleyes:

Its been a right ballache for us to be honest, all my mates in my position have been the same, only i was affected a bit worse because we held on, borrowed cash expecting to pay it back when we have our busy winter period, and a bloody competitor set up shop at the end of the road, massively undercut us and knocked my expected takings down by 40% over the winter, then they went under and closed down around a month ago (cheers lads!)

At the moment they are borrowing as hard as they can go, just like they have since 2001 and that makes the economy look artificially stable. It was really going down for all those years and we now have a national debt which is out of sight! You can't keep up all the wasteful government spending when the cash supply runs out and the country is not earning it without eventually running into trouble.

Sooner or later they will not be able to keep borrowing and effectively using our descendant's money and that is when it will suddenly start to bite. The IMF will say what they did to Callaghan.

The national debt is around £1.5 trillion now and it is going to be very difficult to pay off just the interest on that loan.

I would not like to go into debt at the moment.

Les

Sell Toys

Things started picking up in October and have carried on even throughout Jan / Feb. Much better than last year so things are looking up

I have a construction company.

This sector is still on it's a$$ and we are Bering asked to tender for jobs at prices that have 4/5% profit. No room for unforseens or error at all.

Chop

There has been NO recession in my company. I work for a high regarded fashion brand and we finished the financial year 40% up on the previous year!
Some sectors of retail have struggled because they are middle of the road within there field.
Customers want quality at affordable prices if you offer neither then you'll struggle. Thats why crap shops like primark and new look because they offer cheap disposable fashion. The outlet business has done well this year because people still want the brands but don't want to be paying through the nose.

Yeah, it's a mixed bag.

Personally, I wanted the housing market to fall flat on its face - it didn't and now is climbing strongly again.

People are spending like no tomorrow, cars, TV's, houses .... debt is also being paid back at record levels - so, clearly, there is a lot of spare cash out there .....

Would like interest rates to be up at 8% myself ... as getting 3% on my savings is crap!

i work in th airfreight dept of a large seafreight company, we have had our busiest year ever,

the airfreight side is down but we are doing ok compared to most
i reckon by the end of the summer wed will be ok, until cuts come that is

all depends on what you sell/buy which market your in small businesses have been suffering for a long time and of course where your situated

spoke to a mate in a building supplies (small local builders) and business is booming, seems people are renovating houses they have rather than upgrading.

Be quiet.

Fitness equipment

The market has shifted - turn over same profit marginally higher.

The big clients (David Lloyd, Fitness First etc) have shrunk in a big way slack being picked up by personal trainers & retail

We are not even close to being out of it I think we are still just above the bottom. The end f next year will probably see some good results :)