If you’ve been following the grim news about apparel and retail layoffs, you may have noticed that the layoff news is always about major retailers. Is it because mass layoffs data is the easiest to collect? Or are the layoffs concentrated among the majors?
One clue comes from a survey from ILSR, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Their survey indicates that holiday sales at independent retailers declined slightly less than at a selection of major retailers, with a 5% decline among independents versus 9.8% for all retailers.
They also reported that cities with “Buy Local” program saw smaller declines among independents than in cities without such programs.
The survey of 1,142 independent retailers in a wide range categories (books, toys, clothing, etc.) and across all 50 states found that holiday sales at independent stores declined an average of 5.0% from the same time period in 2007. That compares favorably to most competing chains, including Barnes & Noble (- 7.7%), Best Buy (-6.5%), Borders (-14.0%), JC Penney (-8.1%), Macy’s (-7.5%), The Gap (-14.0%), and Williams-Sonoma (-24.2%).
This week, the Commerce Department reported that December retail sales overall were down a record 9.8% over December 2007.
The survey also found that independent retailers in cities with active “Buy Local” campaigns reported much stronger holiday sales than those in cities without such campaigns. “Buy Local” or “Local First” campaigns have been launched in dozens of cities and towns over the last few years. Independent retailers in these cities reported an average drop in sales of 3.2%, compared to a steeper decline of 5.6% for those in cities without an active Buy Local initiative.
Read the full press release at the ILSR website.
