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From February 2010
By Susan Reda, Editor
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A sobering letter landed in my mailbox just days
after ringing in the new year. It came from the
Nassau County Department of Assessment, and
indicated that the assessed value of our house
had declined by $9,900 since January 2009.
Included in the correspondence was a page of
“frequently asked questions.” One caught my eye.
It read: Won’t my property taxes go down if my
assessment goes down? The response: Not
necessarily.
So the year was off to a less-than-promising
start when, a few days later, I learned that a
college tuition payment was due immediately,
lest we incur a $500 late fee. And this was
still the first week of the month — the time
when the flurry of credit card bills detailing
all the holiday shopping damage we’d done
arrives.
Thankfully the mail has been less depressing of
late, but I’m still feeling pretty melancholy. I
know a lecture-hall-full of noted economists is
saying that the financial system is showing sure
signs of recovery, but I’m just not feeling it.
And I dare say I’m not alone.
Survey results from BIGresearch find
most Americans continue to regard once-desired
products and services as “expendable.” And at NRF’s Annual Convention last month, Resource
Interactive’s Kelly Mooney described recent
spending patterns as “conspicuous curtailing.”
Still, the majority of retailers and vendors I
chatted with at the BIG Show were upbeat . They sensed a change
and were buoyed by a lift in holiday selling –
even if those gains were slim. Retailers seem
prepared to spend on technology, and not just on
the tools that support cost-cutting. One
retailer said he wanted to be sure that when
shoppers returned in earnest — something he
expects to see by mid-year — his company’s
stores would be able to deliver the best
experience possible.
Riding home from the convention, I kept
wondering if I was just being a
stick-in-the-mud. The next day I learned that a
neighbor had been laid off … again. That Sunday,
a story in Newsday indicated that for every 10
homes sold on Long Island, eight others started
foreclosure.
Clearly, we’re not out of the woods yet, but I
think retailers are doing the right thing by
investing in the tools that will shape their
future. One thing is certain: The retailers who
will win consumers’ business are the ones who
deliver an updated and energized shopping
experience. If shoppers return to find the “same
old, same old,” they may just retreat to their
bunkers.
In the meantime, I’m looking for a good deal on
an attitude adjustment. |
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