Department-Store Decline: It's Not The Economy

Here's an interesting study to kick off the  new year.  MediaPost reports on the "Ninth Annual National Shopping Behavior Study" which suggests that it's not the economy but a fundamental problem with department stores that is resulting is dismal sales.  This report supports the growing popularity of boutique apothecaries and beauty sales on the Internet.

"For all the lamenting that retailers have done about slowed consumer spending, a new study reveals that consumers have been shunning mainstream department stores not because of prices, but because these stores are increasingly out of touch with what shoppers want...  The study also found that as the department store channel has lost share overall, it has lost more ground among the affluent shoppers it needs most...  Instead, the study finds that upscale consumers are increasingly likely to shop from catalogs or the Internet. "