jeff

What’s Jeff Reading: Vending Machines, Off Price Retail, Ghost Franchises

It wasn’t that long ago (actually it was, I’m afraid) when I reported, in a somewhat sarcastic tone, about Quiksilver trying to sell surf trunks in vending machines at resorts.  This was before their bankruptcy filing.  I thought that if they were highlighting this effort in a conference call, they were really struggling to find

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Wait- Isn’t There a Pandemic or Something?  Zumiez’s Year and Quarter

You’d think I’d be getting used to it, but I still find myself surprised when another one of our industry’s public companies reports a strong quarter or, in this case, year.  The reasons are tending to be similar across reporting companies; higher gross margin, customer lust to get outdoors, ecommerce growth, expense reductions, government help

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Deckers’ Solid Quarter:  Your Retail Strategy Had to be Right Before There Was Ever a Pandemic

Deckers produced a strong result in their quarter ended December 31.  I guess either because or in spite of covid.  Probably both.  Which is an interesting thing to say and I’ll have to explain it. Revenue rose 14.8% from $938.7 million in last year’s quarter (LYQ) to $1.078 billion in this year’s.   The gross margin

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The Long Term, Historical Context for Running Your Business- This Time Is Not Different.  Probably.

Is this a business article?  Yes.  But politics, economics and history are going to rear their ugly heads.  Let’s put things in the context of history none of us were around to experience, because you’re going to live this context for some years to come. In some number of months things are going to begin

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