jeff | Jeff Harbaugh

In Case You Have Trouble Sleeping: A Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

You can go here http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm to see the report. If it does help you sleep, it will probably give you nightmares. You can see in the first line of the report, released last Thursday, that they expect total employment "…to increase by 15.3 million, or 10.1 percent, during the 2008-18 period…" Now, that may sound encouraging, but […]

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My Office Chair, Customer Service, and Expense Control

Retail

It’s a nice leather chair. I’ve had it less than two years. So I wasn’t happy when it started tilting side to side as much as it rocked from front to back. It felt like it was going to leave me on the floor any day and, besides, it was practically making me seasick. The nice people

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Aeropostale; the Power of Good Systems and the Right Market Position

Aeropostale

For the quarter ended October 31, Aeropostale reported sales up almost 18% to $568 million. For nine months, they rose almost 20% to $1.43 billion. Gross profit margin in the quarter rose from 36% in the same quarter last year to 39.3%. For nine months, it was up from 34.4% to 37.5%. Selling, general and

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Hot Topic: A Competitive Strategy We Should Be Thinking About

Hot Topic

Hot Topic has reported their results for the quarter ended October 31 and their sales for the month of November. Their sales were down some for the quarter and more in November, but they continued to make money in the quarter and their balance is very strong. But I don’t want to crunch their numbers. I do

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Alternative Camber; An Idea Who’s Time has Come- Again

Marketing, Mervin Manufacturing

A couple of weeks ago, I was paging through Transworld Snowboarding’s Gear Guide, and I came upon the page on alternative camber. I read it with interest to try and keep with the latest technological trends, but paused when I saw the illustration of the cambered medley snowboard. Something about the cross section of the board,

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Zumiez’s Nov. 2009 Sales Results- A Couple of Comments

Zumiez

Yesterday, Zumiez reported that sales for the four week period ended November 28th, 2009 decreased 1.8% compared to the same period the previous year. For the same period, they reported that comparable store sales fell 8.5% compared to a decline of 15% in the same period the previous year. In the first place, I want

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ASR and Crossroads Make a Deal; What a Surprise!

Trade Shows

This is good news because it makes things easier for the retailers, which I may have said a time or two is what trade shows need to be about. Crossroads needed retailers, which ASR can help supply, and Jamie Thomas doesn’t want to have to manage the logistics that will be required if Crossroads grows. ASR needs

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PacSun Oct. 31 Quarter Results: New Strategic Focus From New CEO

Pacific Sunwear (PacSun)

Okay, so I finally hold in my hand both the transcript of the conference call and the actual quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I’ve read them and cogitated on their meaning and finally have a couple of things to say that maybe somebody besides me will find interesting. The most interesting stuff

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What Does the Skate Industry Want From Trade Shows? I Think I Know.

Trade Shows

Transworld is trying to get an on line discussion of this topic going, and that’s a good idea. So far, it hasn’t generated much discussion and that’s too bad. Maybe the problem is that they’ve asked the wrong question by focusing on the skate industry. If they’d just asked, “What does a company- any company in any industry-

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Spy Optics (Orange 21) Sept. 30 Quarter and 9 Month Results

Spy

I always look forward to Orange 21’s filings. It’s just about the only chance we get to see the numbers from a smaller company in this industry, because there just aren’t many of this size that are public and required to show us their results. I also like them because since their change in management, when

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