Reuters reports, "Surging shoppers kill New York Wal-Mart employee":
A Wal-Mart employee in New York state's Long Island died on Friday when a throng of shoppers surged into the store and physically broke down the doors, a police spokesman said.
It will be interesting to see how the consumption patterns shift this holiday season. Which retailers will win and which will news? Wal Mart should do well. A couple of days ago, Jim Cramer suggested that Jones Apparel (JNY) might be undervalued when it was trading under $4 despite having $2.40 a share in cash. The stock shot up to around $5, which is still cheap relative to the $19 it was trading at a year ago, and relative to the 55 cents a year it has been paying in dividends. Jones sells mostly womens' clothes and shoes (Jones New York, Anne Klein, Nine West, Gloria Vanderbilt) through department stores and their own retail stores. Their holiday sales will be interesting, some volume lost to the lower end retailers and some volume gained from refugees from the high-end. If they can retain volume, and keep paying those dividends the stock is a steal.
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