This morning on Fox News Radio.

Hi all- If you are up and shopping (and in the car or walk around listening to the radio) tune into the following stations to hear me give my expert advice and tips on Black Friday:

KTRH Houston, TX                          0702AM ET   WSYR Syracuse, NY 0750AM ET   KOA Denver, CO 0835AM ET   WOAI San Antonio, TX 0910AM ET

For those of you that DIDN'T catch the Cavuto segment...

Shame on you! Just kidding! I want to reiterate my point I made on air today that everyone is getting way too entrenched in this "doom and gloom" attitude about the holiday sales season. The consumer should and will be jumping for joy- the prices are going to be so slashed (because reatailers want to move out that inventory STAT) we (meaning me)  might want to re-think getting those Chloe heels for a 42 inch HD plasma. Yep you heard me correct- a gigantic plasma TV will be in the price range of $500- the same price as the shoes I am currently coveting. As far as the retailers are concerned, I think they are gonna have to put in a lot of effort to make up some dismal same store retail sales numbers over the past year. But I wouldn't write them off just yet- these major companies and the aren't stupid. I bet we see some incredible promotions and creative advertising over the next couple months as part of a whole strategy to get shoppers in the door. Now, back to blogging about St. Lucia...

It's that time of the month...

...when I get ready to analyze monthly retail sales numbers on Fox Business!! If you are near a TV, tune in between 1- 2pm. I really don't expect the consumer to have spent very much of anything in July, but I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the numbers tomorrow.

Lessons from LVMH.

Last Thursday I was on Fox Business talking about what a mistake Cartier was making by having a MySpace page. Yeah, they may have 3,000 + friends but the branding is all wrong (they should have just stuck to ads on A Small World), they are essentially dilluting the brand (MySpace = mass, Cartier = heritage and prestige) and a MySpace strategy now is about three years too late.  Well, my position wasn't really liked by a lot of people. In fact, I got some pretty rude e-mails. BUT to my point, I came across this piece in Women's Wear Daily  about how LVMH finally reached an intellectual property settlement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in the amount of 154,000 Euros. For those of you not in the loop, LVMH felt that artists like Britney Spears, Ruben Studdard and Da Brat were using unauthorized images of the Toile Monogram and Multicolore in their CDs and videos, so they took action and filed a law suit. Freakin' genius. Way to regulate on the brand control. If I were LVMH I wouldn't want just any lo-fi celebrity endorsing Vuitton as well! Cartier, take note.

"Recessionista."

I found the definition for this term on a site called www.wisegeek.com. It says a recessionista is "someone who seeks out fashionable items which are also low-cost." OK, so I can name a couple of my favorite recessionistas, but the queen bee is Kathryn Finney of The Budget Fashionista. Not only is she a fierce dresser and has impeccable style, she can find a discount on anything in all corners of the world. For real. Check out her site if you don't believe me.

Clarification: Steve and Barry's

A frequent reader pointed out how he thinks I made a mistake by saying Steve and Barry's revenues were increased by not spending money on marketing. He thought I meant earnings so I want to clarify. Dear reader:

This was not me speculating on how Steve and Barry's made their cash, this was a quote from the chief executive when I spoke with him. You say,"You can't increase revenue by not advertising- revenue is sales. You can only increase profit by cutting expenses." I agree with you, but I'm directly quoting from the source that prob. knows his business best... or at least it seemed like he knew his business best when I spoke to him last year. Hope that helps.

XO, Hitha

The Bowery: NYC's new retail space.

(Perry Ferrel, John Varvatos and Slash)

(Joan Jett- she still looks and sounds AMAZING)

I'm sure you've been hearing the buzz. The Bowery, the street once known for the best place to score a $25 hooker and a bag of blow is now home to some of the coolest designer stores on the planet- and peeps aren't so excited about it.  Just last month John Varvatos hosted an opening party at the old CBGBs- but here's the thing- that's actually their space now. For those die hard music fans, that bit of news was hard to swallow. I mean, how can the home of punk music and New York's underground be a place where $400 cashmere sweaters are being sold?? Varvatos DID do a good job preserving the original facade, so I'm not so offended by it (in fact I love it),  but would love to hear you all think...

Despite Kalinsky, Norstrom STILL falters.

Man, you know the economy is REAL bad when someone like Jeffrey Kalinsky can't save a retailer like Nordstrom! The other day the retailer reported a fall in same store sales by 9.1% far worse than what analysts expected. Total sales dipped to $750 million from $803 million in 2007.  Jeffrey, who started the extremely well edited and influential Jeffrey boutiques in New York and Atlanta sold a majority interest of his stores to Norstrom and took on a full time gig. Problem is even his keen eye for knowing what's hot way before it sizzles (I bought my Balenciaga motorcycle bag because I saw it first at Jeffrey six years ago), isn't really working for Nordstrom right now.  The tourists aren't buying into it either!

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On Fox Business today!!

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I'm talking about malls and how they are one of the biggest losers in this recession we are in. But not because all of these other little stores are going out of business, it's because the larger retailers like JC Penny's can't get the traffic in!! AND no one wants to buy anything because gas is so expensive!! Why would I drive to the mall (if I lived in a mall market) when I could be saving that gas to go to work?? Tune in if you are near a TV- I go on at 2:50 pm EST! Also, thank you to everyone that wrote in with their "time management" suggestions- will post those a little later.

Economists state the obvious when it comes to apparel spending.

Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research and auther of the group's Leading index of Consumer Spending tells Women's Wear Daily, "People's spending on apparel isn't likely to pick up anytime soon." Gee, ya think Mr. Steidtmann?? Maybe it has to do with that little housing crisis we are experiencing, or gas prices reaching (in some areas) to $4 a gallon, the rising prices in staples like milk and eggs or what about the fact that there are no jobs???  I sometimes wonder why we need a 50 page report to tell us what people in the middle of America can tell us in one sentence... 

Norma Kamali for Wal-Mart: this is really not good.

norma-kamali.jpg Wal-Mart just announced the very talented Norma Kamali is going to be designing for the mass retailer. Under the long term licensing deal brokered by Cherokee Inc., Kamali will establish a lifestyle brand that will encompass women's wear, children's clothing, accessories, footwear and home products reports Women's Wear Daily. Price points will be suitable for the "Wal-Mart customer" meaning, cheap.

OK, the reason WHY Wal-Mart has consistently reported high sales numbers has to do with the fact that they know their customer!! These people aren't going to Wal-Mart to buy designer duds, they are going to Wal-Mart to buy pasta, pasta sauce and gas!! This is going to be a disaster...

Today on Fox Business: retail sales and the holiday weekend.

Happy MLK day!! I'm going on Fox Business today at around 2ish to talk about if door buster sales and major mark downs on weekends like this one as well as President's Day will effect over all retail sales. The short answer is: No. When you are about to be in a recession, the last thing on your mind is buying a flat screen that's on a 75 percent mark down!! Instead, you are going to stock up on things like canned food, gas and band aids ( I get major blisters from my Prada sandals in the summer)!! Also, the retailers like Target, Macys J.C. Penny and The Gap Inc. are in a pickle right now. They have huge inventories they need to move and no one to purchase them. So- even if they offer some serious discounts to their merch, it's not going to really have a huge effect on their profit margins. I realize no one can predict the future, but I wonder if retailers looked at sub-prime debacle more carefully and took that into consideration when stocking their shelves full of luxury goods, the retail industry would be in better shape. My prediction: everyone is going to start looking abroad because (as much as it breaks my heart to say this) America is just not where it is at right now. Sad.

Finally, Liz Claiborne Inc. does something right!

Fashion Week Daily reports Liz Claiborne Inc., has tapped John Bartlett as the designer of Claiborne men's sportswear line, and Isaac Mizrahi as the creative director of its flagship brand. All I have to say is: YAY. John Bartlett and I met while I was on a panel about trends and stayed in touch ever since. This man is INCREDIBLY talented and brilliant. I've only met Isaac once, but I love his line at Target. In fact, when my sister needed clothes for her internship last summer, 80% of her wardrobe was Isaac Mizrahi for Target. He must be doing something right- I would never put my baby sister in something I thought was fugly!!  The point is- new talent is VERY important for these old classic brands. IF we really want to see a turn around in retail, let's get some of that talent (new and old) out there!!

Recession special.

recession-special.jpg  Last Thursday I went on Fox Business to talk about the dismal retail sales numbers and the midst of my conversation with the lovely Liz Claman and awesome David Asman, I said the "R" word. All day, people were speculated that we might be on the brink of one, danced around the topic, insinuated we may be heading toward that direction, but from what my research told me, I felt I had to call a spade and spade. And so I just said it. 

During times like these, the last thing anyone wants to do is admit that we are in fact, headed straight towards a crap economy, but when economic indicators like retail sales start to slow, and the amount of available jobs are next to nothing, there IS definitely something negative happening. So I will say it again people-we are on the brink of a recession!! Hunker down- it's unfortunately on the way!!