By Nicole Maestri - Analysis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending may have slowed, but the gloom already being cast over the impending holidays is overdone, retailers and clothing makers ranging from Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to Toys "R" Us to Perry Ellis International Inc (PERY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said this week.
Best Buy is planning for better business this holiday season, a crucial period that can account for 25 to 40 percent of retailers' annual revenue, a company executive said at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit this week.
The CEO of Toys "R" Us said he does not believe parents will cut back on Christmas spending for their children, while Perry Ellis executives are more optimistic than the media suggest.
"The situation with the consumer in general is not as bad as sometimes you hear it in the news," said Francisco Gonzalez-Meza Hoffmann, vice president of strategic initiatives at Perry Ellis International.
Instead of focusing on what they cannot control -- a crumbling housing market, tighter credit and soaring fuel prices -- retailers are working on what they can control -- inventory.
"With less stock, and just a natural cycle of consumer (spending), I think the back half of the year is going to be OK," said Wesley Card, chief executive of Jones Apparel Group Inc (JNY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), whose brands include Jones New York, Anne Klein, Nine West and Easy Spirit.
SPENDING THOSE TAX REBATES
From February through May, the average monthly sales increase for U.S. retail chains at stores open at least a year was 2 percent, below the 2.1 percent advance last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Continued...
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