Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The Off Price Show August 24th through 28th

The Off price show has come and gone and for another fall season. The show for the most part was extremely successful as many large and small buyers were present. The show drew many buyers from across the retail spectrum including food, drug, discount department store chains, independent retailers and wholesalers. While the traffic is never as heavy as it is in February, it was surprisingly good over the weekend. Sunday August 26th was by far the heaviest traffic day; as was expected.
The number one question at Riley was "Where can I find fleece?" The simple answer is that the fleece market is in very short supply and most age ranges of fleece and many product categories seem to be in short supply. It seems that many of the major retailers have pushed back initial deliveries and they are delaying putting goods on the floor. Men's and women's sweat pants seem to be in shortest supply with hooded sweat shirts are coming in at a close second. We believe the off price fleece market will remain very tight the whole year as our inventories are the lowest they have been in a decade.

While the market may be tight, opportunities still exist to pick up some good buys. Our inventory in boys remains strong including boys zip hoods and pants. We have several containers of men's pants coming in from Pakistan in early October and our men's hooded inventory is expected to grow over the next three weeks. Missy, plus and girls fleece inventories are very tight at this time and should remain scarce barring a major influx of goods. Infant and toddler fleece is holding up well through August and the availability looks good for the whole year.

Please keep an eye on your inventory levels and pick up your basics early before the season breaks and the inventories dwindle.

Thanks to everyone who stopped in to see Riley in Salon A....We had an very successful show thanks to everyone who stopped in to view our products. The next off price show we will be attending is scheduled for February in Las Vegas.