Experts: Consumers still spending despite legacy stores closing

JACKSON, Tenn. — Are closures by national retail chains like Ruby Tuesday’s and Macy’s a sign of low spending?

Not exactly, according to local marketing experts. 

Wilburn Lane is a retired marketing professor at Union University.  He said despite the recent announcement by Macy’s to close 100 stores, consumers are spending.

“It’s not a lack of retail sales as much as it is what the consumer buys, where they buy and how they buy,” he said.

Some shoppers aren’t into the hunt for deals — they’re just buyers, according to Lane.

On Monday afternoon, Charles Yanders was waiting in the parking lot at the Ross store in north Jackson as his wife shopped inside.

“Ross is a good store, but they carry a lot of small-men stuff,” he said. “I’m a big man, so I do all my buying at the big-man store.”

Lane said sometimes stores simply close because they aren’t meeting customer needs.

Researchers acknowledge an obvious challenge for traditional department stores comes from online retailers like Amazon.

Still, not everyone has bought into the digital options. “I would prefer going inside the store to see the quality of the merchandise,” shopper Acquanetta Donnell said.

An additional reason Lane said legacy stores may be dropping off is because people prefer to spend money on experiences.

“It doesn’t mean the retailing store will go away completely. It just means that the type of stores are going to be different,” he said.

The Commerce Department said Americans spent less last month on clothing, electronics and dining out. Professor Lane said purchases for big-ticket items like cars has increased.

It’s still unclear if the Macy’s store at the Old Hickory Mall in Jackson will be one of the 100 anticipated to close in 2017.