Thursday, April 2, 2009

When it happens to the strong...

... You have to believe it is a real trend.

Costco announced this morning that they will be closing their two Costco Home stores. I was just up there a couple of weeks ago, and it was certainly a quieter visit than a couple of years ago when we all were spending way too much money. There's no financial impact to the company: the leases are ending, the employees will transfer to other places, and it will all just go away.

These guys are a strong company financially, and management is amongst the best in retail. If they're making this kind of decision to rationalize their stores and extension brands, it reinforces my belief that we're going to see a lot more of this from the weaker hands in retail. UBS finally published on this topic in the past week, the first that I've really heard from any of the major Wall Street analysts.

Prepare to wave buh bye to brand extensions like RUEHL, Martin + Osa, and others. They haven't been announced yet, but it's got to be close.

1 comment:

Lissa said...

No more Costo Home....bummer :(