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求一篇金融危机对零售业影响的英语文献,

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求一篇金融危机对零售业影响的英语文献,
要有中文和英文
求一篇金融危机对零售业影响的英语文献,
Dina Powell has long wanted to put down new carpet in her Stafford,Va.,home and update the flooring in her kitchen.But a family budget tightened by a precarious economy has changed her home-improvement plans.
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"I'm putting those things off," Powell said Wednesday in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in the Kingstowne neighborhood in nearby Alexandria,as she loaded her car with dryer sheets and cards and wrapping paper purchased for her son's sixth birthday party."I'm just getting the essentials."
As the stock market crumbled and experts and lawmakers debated the effects of a massive financial bailout bill,many Americans spent these past 30 days anxious to find out how Wall Street's troubles would trickle down.Today the Rasmussen Consumer Index reported a record low in consumer confidence,falling to 65.5,down 21 points from a month ago,and down nearly 40 points from this time last year.High (though dropping) gas prices,rising costs for food and basic household goods and the constriction of credit availability are all taking a toll on American purchasing routines.
"I used to go all the time," Powell said of her shopping trips to Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers."If I needed one thing,I'd run out to buy it.But now I go just once a week.I wait for things to pile up.Everything seems so expensive."
For retail giant Wal-Mart,daily discounts and low-price merchandise have kept shoppers coming back despite the new strain on their wallets.In its September sales report,released Tuesday,Wal-Mart noted a 2.8% growth in sales at its U.S.stores since the same month last year.Bargains are,in fact,the main reason the long lines and heavy in-store aisle traffic haven't kept Terry Fife of Alexandria from abandoning his weekly trips to the Kingstowne store."Wal-Mart is not exactly a place I look forward to shopping at," Fife said Wednesday,walking across the parking lot on his lunch break with a box of Milk Duds in hand.
But for other,pricier retailers,the economic crunch has stunted sales growth.At Target Corp.,another major discount retailer,a company report released Wednesday revealed that same-store September sales in several departments had weakened since the same month last year:decorative home and garden,women's apparel and jewelry and accessories.The total decrease in comparable store sales was 3%."Sales for the month of September were below our expectations,reflecting continued daily volatility," president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel said in the report.
Home Depot,the world's largest home-improvement retailer,also reported revenue loss.Its sales for the fiscal 2008 second quarter totaled $21 billion,a 5.4% decrease from the same time a year earlier.A spokesman for Home Depot would not comment Wednesday on sales in the past 40 days.
Owners of independent hardware stores say the market pressure might actually be working in their favor."When you're buying $1,000 worth of things,it's worth it to go to Home Depot," says Todd Pfeiffer,owner of Pfeiffer's Hardware store in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of northwest Washington,D.C."Here,it's about convenience." With fewer people furnishing new homes given the current housing crisis,says Pfeiffer,they are more likely to need "bits and pieces" for smaller fix-it projects.That brings them to their local hardware store.
Gina Schaefer and Mark Friedman,a husband and wife who own five Ace Hardware stores throughout Washington and Baltimore,note that in a time when few people want to move,paint and garden products continue to sell well."The greatest way to freshen up a room is to change the paint," she says,noting that sales are pretty consistent across the merchandise board.Schaefer adds that a new Administration,with an influx of new residents to the district,will likely yield more consumers looking to spruce up their new homes.
But for Kathy Whitaker,owner of a small home-improvement business,money is tighter now than it has been in a while."Lots of customers are cutting back" on the more pricey design and décor changes planned for their houses,instead opting for smaller projects or abandoning their plans altogether,she says.That means some of the updates she wants to make on her own home have been thrown off track.
"I have a house that's a work in progress.Every time you turn around,there's something else we need to do," says Whitaker,of Springfield,Va.,as she pulls bags of cat food and bottles of motor oil from her Wal-Mart shopping cart."But we definitely have to watch what we buy now.We're only buying things we really need,and we're trying to consolidate and do all our shopping in one trip to save on gas."