Sweating It Out

The NY Post reports that it’s too darn hot — if you’re trying to sell sweaters, ski jackets and snowblowers, that is.

Above-normal temperatures have lingered across the eastern US since the start of the holiday shopping season, forcing retailers to take unusually steep and early markdowns on winter supplies ranging from woolen overcoats to rock salt.
The profit picture is especially grim for chains like Modell’s Sporting Goods which, in a widespread industry practice, ordered heaps of holiday merchandise based on the weather a year ago, when a flurry of wintry storms whipped the East Coast.

“We bought almost triple the inventory because last year we had sold out on a lot of key items by early December,” CEO Mitchell Modell told The Post.
“In our 122-year history, we have never taken prices this deep this early,” Modell added, noting that prices on Columbia Sportswear jackets already were slashed by as much as 50 percent.

Since the week of Thanksgiving, temperatures across the Northeast have been 11 degrees warmer than last year, according to Weather Trends International. That’s the biggest year-on-year increase in at least 20 years and could tank demand for cold-weather clothing….


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/sweating_it_out_vBgoz7N7ddyrtRI7tQOkDN#ixzz1h4WY79PJ