The ubiquitous Starbucks is even trimming the non performers!  At the 2005 International Conference of Shopping Centers (ICSC) convention in Las Vegas, the word on the street was that people would stop at Starbucks on their way to Bankruptcy court- because that is the culture we have created!  Retail was KING just a few years ago…

Today, ICSC reports that it will raise its estimates for the number of stores (all stores, not just Starbucks) that will close this year to 144,000, up 7 percent from last year. This is the largest one-year increase in the 14 years the ICSC has tracked the figures.

Echoing the words of financial advisors Chris Snyder and Hutch Ashoo of Pillar Financial Services from a recent EBBT article, investors need to focus on data and not the media noise.  Please see my blog dated June 13, 2008 for a similar echo.

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