Stuff.co.nz reports that although retail in New Zealand is taking a hit, the grass is still greener there than in Australia and espically the UK. The full article is available here, excerpt below.
Announcing a $1.8 million loss for the July year, outgoing Pumpkin Patch boss Maurice Prendergast said if you think New Zealand retail looks awful, check out how bad it is in Britain and Australia.
Prendergast states that Australasia was holding its own despite the company pushing prices up significantly to cover cotton costs. Cotton prices had been around US50c per pound and hit as high as US$2.10c per pound before settling around $1.20-$1.30 per pound currently.
While the Australian economy was being shored up by the mining sector, the UK was a different story.
”I spent some time with the (maternity goods retailer) Mothercare CEO Ben Gordon a couple of weeks ago and his view of the world was one fifth of all retail is empty in the UK, one fifth is in distress, leaving only three fifths actually working,” Prendergast said.
”It’s a good indication of the challenge we have in that UK market. He was closing 150 stores – some of the best brands in the UK are closing significant numbers of stores.”
What is your view on the domestic economy? Are you preparing for any contingencies?
