Quotes by Michael Exstein

“The good news is in all honesty, everybody has brought down their expectations for the season.”

“Youve had a series of announcements over the last several weeks indicating a softness in retail. Youve had other indicators, which I think really tells you youre up against really difficult comparisons [with year-ago figures]. Somethings gone wrong with the apparel business in this country.”

“I think you have a satiated consumer.”

“I think that retailers have always been somewhat responsible for what they sell. Many of them have spent a lot of time and effort on quality control. I think litigation is a fact of life for retailers. What youre seeing here is that retailers are being held responsible for more and more.”

“Theyre firing on almost all cylinders at this stage of the game.”

“Youre going to see Wal-Mart completely change its Internet operation and its perspective on it as the fall unfolds. Youre going to see a much more aggressive Wal-Mart stand on the Internet.”

“Basically, if you promoted heavily during the Thanksgiving weekend, you did well. If youre willing to be aggressive on price and promotion, you can attract traffic into the stores.”

“This initial earnings guidance for 2006 reflects the fact that the integration of May is going to be a more challenging and longer-term task than some investors had expected.”

“I think you have a satiated consumer, youve got a consumer thats facing an increasing debt load and I think there wasnt a lot interesting short of the scooters this Christmas season.”

“I think you can look at it as a preview of coming attractions. (CEO) Alan Lacy has made no secret of the fact that, with the exception of the appliance business, he does not consider the core mall business run well.”