He said retailers had opened too many stores, apparel producers had built too many plants and consumers had too much debt.
The Retail segment engages in supermarket retailer, liquor retailer and retail of fuel and operation of convenience stores, apparel and general merchandise, automotive services, repairs, building material, and home and garden improvement products.
It happens all around us; Instagram elevates bygone kitsch to social relevance, normcore recasts department-store-apparel as vintage chic.
Even the giant discounters, which have been roaring past the department stores and apparel chain stores, had sales that came in on the low end of Wall Street's expectations.
Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research for Thomson Reuters, said department store and apparel sales were stronger than expected.
Total specialty retail sales, a combination of department store and apparel sales, fell 18.3percentt in December, compared with a 20percentt drop in November.
The bleakest prospects are reserved for department stores and specialty apparel stores.
Craig Johnson, the president of Customer Growth Partners, said that at department stores and most apparel stores, "soft apparel sales were offset by strong footwear sales, which continued to be on fire".
"It's devastating," Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report, said of the performance of department stores and specialty apparel stores.
Discounters, particularly Wal-Mart Stores, achieved impressive gains, while department stores and apparel chains still struggled, although their business appeared to be improving.
Consumers are not increasing their spending as much at all types of stores, ranging from specialty apparel stores like the Gap to discount stores like Kmart and department stores like Dayton Hudson, a unit of Target.
