10/2/2006 Retail Notes
This is the At Sea Edition of Retail Notes. Today I am coming to you from a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic - right now approximately 100 miles from the island of Bermuda. A world away from work and the worries of every day life, but with the power of modern technology, I stay connected.
With that, one quick note about the ship. Although I am on one of the smaller ships in the Royal Carribean line, I am really amazed at how entirely self sufficient the ship is. In addition to the mounds of food that they must have stored in a back room, they have so much crap that they are hawking. Generally, it is either low quality crap or really overpriced crap. I’m amazed at how much stuff I see people buying, but when you’re at sea, who doesn’t need a new bolero or Royal Carribean golf shirt?
Appears that we will now have the first look at the JC Penney/Sephora marriage as JCP has opened their first Sephora location in their store (see: Penney unveils first Sephora). This is just the first of many and I’d expect shoppers to react pretty positively, iniatially, to this new partnership.
I finally got down to the Pier at Caesar’s in Atlantic City last week and will post photos next week. From a retail perspective, it is really beautiful. Harrah’s is pumping a lot of money into all of their developments in Atlantic City, with expansion and rennovation going on all over the place. Although not directly retail related, it is pretty impressive that there is a rumored buyout of Harrah’s in the works (see: Harrah’s Shares Rise; WSJ Says Company May Be Bought).
