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I don’t have a car here in NYC. There really is no need. But after I took a trip out to the Gateway Plaza Mall in Brooklyn, NY a couple weeks ago, I realized how much of an impact rising gasoline prices are having on shoppers wallets. I did my research, spoke to analysts at Global Hunter Securities, even analyzed what shoppers cut back on when those prices started to rise. But it wasn’t until we filled the car up with gasoline on the way home and saw the bill for $70 for a FULL TANK OF GAS did it hit me– this is a real problem. For me $70 equals a couple things: a nice dinner at my favorite restaurant, a facial at Mario Badescu, a new handbag at a sample sale, or two weeks of groceries at Whole Foods. Check out my report here:

Unbelievable. Crocs JUST announced two weeks ago that it would be entering into a licensing deal to create a greater product mix(surprise– but those plastic clog type shoes aren’t selling well other than in Asia)! Everyone thought this was 2012′s turn around story. And now… NOW with an outlook for Q1 that missed analyst estimates, the street is back to where it started at the beginning of Q4 of 2011- doubtful that this company can really turn it around. And Gap is another one. Same store sales have been negative for a couple months now. And all of those holiday promotions didn’t help Q4 numbers- in fact it narrowed margins. The company is offering a buyback program of $1 billion but analysts I spoke to were skeptical. Check out the vid from Friday:

YAY. Nothing makes me more happy than reporting on good news and $TGT’s announcement that the retailer is officially moving into Canada is exciting.  $TGT agreed to pay Zellers Inc. C$1.825B in two equal payments of C$912.5M to acquire the leasehold interests in up to 220 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc. Target expects to open 100 to 150 stores throughout Canada in 2013 and 2014. What’s more $TGT also announced it intends to sell their credit card recievables portfolio which totaled $6.7 billion as of October 30th, 2010. The move is likely to finance CAPEX for the new stores in Canada which is said to exceed $1 billion.

My take:

While expansion is always a good sign of a retailer doing well, we can’t ignore their online business which wavered/lost market share to $AMZN during the holidays. With shopping becoming more mobile/online, how the retailer handles this will be key.  Grocery business is also taking a hit with rising commodity and food prices, but having a variety category mix like $TGT is doing with the one-stop-shop is a good model for them.