I know, I know

One of the things about a blog is that, like the lawn, you have to tend to it or else it becomes an eyesore. The neighbors complain, and sooner or later they send out the Lawn Police to see why your weeds are taller than the mailbox.

And it's been two months since I've "cut" my lawn, er, blog. I've been getting notes from my "Fans"--"why haven't you posted to the blog?". Well, I've been busy. And besides, there's not much to report.

One of the main reasons there hasn't been much to report is that we're all waiting. Waiting for the "turn"--that point 5-6 months after retail sales trend upwards where historically we see our business start rebounding.

Here in Atlantic City we're getting ready for Promotions East. What was once a very large show is now a smaller one, and optimism is in relatively short supply. We're waiting for a turn that has not yet materialized.

But we're like golfers--eternal optimists. We're sure that the recent surge in retail sales will pan out for us. We have to believe this, because the alternative is to accept defeat. We're not that way.

The retail turn is indeed good. I hear from my retail counterparts about how great things are versus 2009 (which, to be honest, was a crappy year) and we're waiting for it to happen for us. There are some signs, but not enough yet. Budgets, the milk on which we feed, were set in 2009 when things were awful. Corporations are waiting too, and they are not yet ready to "spike" the budgets even though their business may be better.

So, we wait. Not too much longer, I hope, because it's getting harder to see out the windows with the grass growing so high...


Pete