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US Retail Sales Were Up in December, But …

Published

6 years ago

January 16, 2017

INSTORE Staff

Not everyone benefited equally.

Overall retail sales were up in December from the same month a year earlier, but not everyone in the sector benefited equally from the gains, according to new figures from the U.S. Commerce Department.

Department stores actually saw their sales drop 7.2 percent compared with the year-ago period, Bloomberg reports. At the same time, online retailers and other non-store businesses saw their sales rise 10.4 percent.

The figures come as large retailers such as Macy’s and Sears have announced store closings.

Amazon.com, meanwhile, said this month that it will create 100,000 jobs across the U.S. during an expansion over the next year-and-a-half, Bloomberg notes.

Still, bricks-and-mortar stores can thrive, as Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money, recently explained. He said the key to success in a mall location is to appeal to high-end customers.

Read more at Bloomberg.

Time to Do What You've Always Wanted? Time to Call Wilkerson.

It was time. Teri Allen and her brother, Nick Pavlich, Jr., had been at the helm of Dearborn Jewelers of Plymouth in Plymouth, Mich., for decades. Their father, Nick Pavlich, Sr., had founded the store in 1950, but after so many wonderful years helping families around Michigan celebrate their most important moments, it was time to get some “moments” of their own. Teri says Wilkerson was the logical choice to run their retirement sale. “They’re the only company that specializes in closing jewelry stores,” she says. During the sale, Teri says a highlight was seeing so many generations of customers who wanted to buy “that one last piece of jewelry from us.” Would she recommend Wilkerson? Absolutely. “There is no way that I would have been able to do this by myself.”