A Nation of Broke People Are Killing Retail More Than Amazon: Top Expert

Retail stocks have slumped this year.  While many chalk up the declines to competition from online retail behemoth Amazon (AMZN) , famed market expert Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, doesn't agree. "Amazon has been here for a long time - this is the worst year for retail - it's worse than 2008 and 2009," he said. "This is because consumers are broke - they have lousy jobs, they're loaded up with debt and they can't afford to buy stuff." He pointed to Foot Locker's (FL) 25% decline on Friday.  Schiff isn't comforted by the double-digit gains in earnings growth for the past two quarters in U.S. stocks. "Let's see what happens if we go to a recession which is going to impeded [companies']

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One of the ugliest stores in retail is crushing its competition

Ross owns more than 1,500 stores in 37 states under the banners "Ross Dress For Less" and "dd's DISCOUNTS," and it's opening more than 80 stores annually at a time when department stores are losing sales and shutting down hundreds of stores. "Their customers are of an older demographic who have been loyal for years and will not be easily taken over by Amazon," said Eric Ervin, CEO of Reality Shares, an ETF issuer and research firm whose funds own holdings in Ross Stores.