In retrospect, Thorn might have wanted to wait just a bit longer to pull that trigger.

More than two-thirds of Dollar General stores are located in towns with populations of less than 20,000 people.īig Lots CEO Bruce Thorn didn't mince words when he said late last year, 'We will increasingly focus on rural and small town markets where we know we outperform with our strong assortment of furniture and home goods, while taking a prudent near-term approach to opening stores.' Right on cue, a spate of large-market store closures began early this year. That's the aforementioned Dollar General and - although it doesn't make the point as often as Dollar General does - Big Lots (NYSE: BIG). The clues leading to this conclusion lie in the numbers of the two retailers most focused on rural America. Right now, however, inflation may be more of a problem for rural households with lower absolute incomes. Nevertheless, inflation is a problem for everyone. It's no secret that workers in more urban and metropolitan areas generally earn more than their rural counterparts, mostly reflecting the higher cost of living in these densely populated spaces. Rural consumers may be feeling the most pain This demand may reflect the slow post-pandemic return to offices, but it's strength that's been missing nonetheless. Macy's also noted strength in women's career-wear and accessories. Namely, Macy's and Nordstrom each saw relative strength in beauty/cosmetics, fragrances, and men's dresswear.

Macy's same-store sales slumped 8.2% year over year when not counting its leased and licensed spaces' sales, while Nordstrom's overall sales slipped roughly 4% when factoring in the impact of moving its Anniversary Sale to a different date.īoth retailers touted several of the same strong spots, though. To be clear, department store chains Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) and Macy's (NYSE: M) both reported miserable second-quarter results. Not all discretionary spending is under pressureĪnd yet, not every consumer is feeling enough of a financial pinch to stop splurging altogether. Moreover, without offering any addition details, Dollar General (NYSE: DG) CFO Kelly Dilts also commented during the company's Q2 earnings conference call that 'we expect continued pressure in the sales line for the duration of this year, particularly in discretionary sales as our customer focuses more on buying for need.' 2. Company-wide sales of food and beverages grew 2.3% year over year, while equity and household consumables sales grew even more. In a similar vein, although Target (NYSE: TGT) reported a 5.4% decline in its comparable sales for the three-month stretch ending in July, all of that decline reflected soft demand for its categories like clothing, home decor, toys, and electronics. General merchandise sales were actually down year over year. In fact, the entirety of Walmart's (NYSE: WMT) same-store sales growth of 6.4% within the United States in Q2 was driven by groceries and health products. Consumables are a critically important draw nowĪs is usually the case, grocers (or general merchandise stores that also sell groceries) continued to do well.

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