SRG's Flickinger Says Legal Strategy Erred on ODP-SPLS (Audio)

one percent, falling nineteen points. Nass Stack also down one percent, dropping forty nine points down, Industrials down two hundred seventeen a drop there of one point two percent. The ten year up eight thirty seconds yield one point seven three percent, Gold up fourteen dollars the ounce to twelve seventy eight, gain of one point one percent, and crude up a dollar forty two a barrel forty six oh eight. Again there of three point two percent. I'm Charlie Pellotton. That's

a Bloomberg Business flash. You're listening to taking stock with Catholic Days and Pim Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Is the US consumer just running out of gas? Or are the nation's biggest retailers just losing ground? To the biggest online retailers like Amazon, Macy's, renewing concerns about the retail industry leading to a stock route for many companies from Walmart to Ross stores, the share price closing down to thirty

one dollars and change today. Joining us now to put it all together is Bert Flickinger, Managing Director, Strategic Resource Group, joining us in our New York studio. So, Bert, let's just dive right into Macy's. Are they doing something wrong? Are they? Or is it just the fact that the consumer, no matter how how much you hit it right on the bull's eye, just isn't spending right now, Kathleen, Macy's

is doing just about everything right. But to your point, no matter how much the consumer would have saved in gasoline over the last year, that still doesn't offset having an essentially zero interest rates and bank accounts and load and no interest rates. So consumer literally has to save three to four percent more per year for retirement or for weddings or whatever it is. So that comes directly out of consumer spending, and Macy's and the others are

taking a tremendous toll. Is Shue and Charlie Pellett referenced Bert, I want to get sort of an understanding of the online commerce world because a Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, at the April thirtieth annual meeting, this is what he said about Amazon. He said, it's a big force that will disrupt more businesses. Now, let's just concede that he

does own two percent of Walmart. But he said if I owned a bunch of shopping malls or something like that, I would be thinking plenty hard about what they looked like ten or twenty years from now. You also said they have a really Amazon has a real advantage because it has intense focus on having hundreds of millions of generally very be customers getting very quick delivery. That doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement for a brick and mortar

store like Walmart. Definitely not for Walmart, not for Walmart dot Com. And it's all of us forecast for Bloomberg and two thousand seven, the retail recession that lasted the balance of this this decade. We've also all forecast the retail accelerating retail ice age. It's continuing now from nineteen

and Buffet's point, at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. You'll have a number of shopping centers filed for bankruptcy and liquidation, uh, number of retailers, and they're gonna be catastrophic consequences for the public sector because you'll you'll have public budgets impaired without the sales tax ticking time bombs on pension plans.

Retail employees more people than any other industry, the layoffs and the corresponding collateral consequences will ripple through the economy, and it will be all the all the all the while, fifty four million Americans are is on Prime subscribers, all the while they're paying almost a hundred dollars a year, all the while, all the while pim and increasing at nearly a compounded growth rate in all the key areas

you referenced. So uh. And of course, you can't in order to be be a successful mall operator, to be in fact, to be a very successful store in one of those malls, there has to be a lot of stores around. You can't just be Macy's and a couple of others. And you've also said that this is one of the problems that there's some some other tenants some of the retailers that are going down the tubes. And that's another thing hurting companies like Macy's. Kathleen is you're

referencing Macy's problem is that neighborhood's going bad. So for example, New Milford Mall outside of Pittsburgh, Simon Property Good owner mall still filed for bankruptcy because their occupancy rate drafted by about thirty percent when two key mall owners uh uh mall retailers left. So Macy's is a co anchor, just didn't have enough customer account to keep going. And

the number of inlines are closing. So it's you and pen We have reported in Syriatum uh Sports Authority, Eastern Mountain Sports Sports Shelle uh and and and so many other category dominant and anchor retailers are closing that Macy's can't carry them all by itself and is paying a

tremendous price even though they're doing well. In his Charlie Pellet indicated Disney is really the leading indicator for us in terms of the health of the consumer, and if Disney can't turn the corner, they're real concerns about the consumer and the economy in general. Steve Old who used to be I believe the head of Office Depot. That's why I'm mentioning him to you. He says, he's said in the past that e commerce and smaller specialty shops

we're killing department stores. Is there anything that you see that would make that statement untrue? Well, also also with the president of Gallery Lafayette UM in Europe and worldwide, department stores are dead because the shopper basis is going in different directions. But it's also a lack of antitrust enforcements, so with Amazon and sales taxes, but us also it's a brilliance of Bezos. So for example, Bezos has invested in five million distribution centers square footage just New York,

New Jersey, Philadelphia. A lot of its robotic sized, so their cost to your point on Prime, they can get the merchandise faster, So Staples doesn't get affirmed by Judge Emmett's solvent that was that the merger's blocked. Was that a mistake We got about thirty seconds left. Uh, it probably was a mistake. But to pimps point, I can order a cartridge from Amazon and Prime and get it in nine hours. It takes help increase Amazon's dominance by

blocking this merger and Amazons less so. Uh, they should have invoked a wild got chall should have invoked to fill company doctrine for office depo office max. Uh, there's some questions and for in my professional view on antitrust representation for another day. Thank you very much. I think the star the stores will be around a little at least a little bit longer we can have that, uh conversation.

He'll be a real retail renaissance after the rationalizations starting in all right, Well, we'll hope you're all around until then. Bert Flicking Cherre, thank you very much, Managing Director, Strategic Resource Group. Shares of Macy's today down, Shares of Amazon today up one and a half percent. You're listening to taking Stock and this is Bloomberg Radio coming up. Bloomberg

Law brought to you by Deutsche Atkins PC. If you feel you've been unlawfully terminated, you owe it to yourself to call the law firm of Deutsche Atkins now for a free phone call consultation. Calle h z