Challenging times: A customer shops for home improvement products at a Home Depot store in Chicago, Illinois. Home, clothing and hobby retailers dominate the list of distressed retailers in the United States because of the size of their debt. — AFP
NEW YORK: A predicted slide in Halloween consumption is the latest blow for heavily-indebted retailers battling mounting overheads and the trend of consumers trading down to cheaper products.
US spending for the holiday will drop by 5% to US$11.6bil this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Sales of greeting cards and costumes are likely to see the greatest decline, a hit to merchants reliant on seasonal splurges in what’s already been a tough year for the industry.
