2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-business report

The nation's biggest department store chain Federated is buying its No.2 rival--May Department Stores in a deal valued at 11 billion dollars.The combination forms a chain with nearly a thousand retail¹ outlets² and as NPR's Scott Hosley reports, the move comes at a time when department stores are getting a dwindling³ share of the retail trade.

San Diego's Fashion Valley Mall is anchored by a Robinson's May Department store at one end of the food court and Macy's at the other. The acquisition of the May company by Macy's parent Federated brings these two retailers⁵ together along with other venerable chains like Marshall Field's ,Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor and Firelings. The big stores are magnets for customers like NB and CN. They are here today on the lookout⁶ for a variety of merchandise.

Clothes,shoes,purses,jeans,anything,everything...I like department stores because there's a more variety and you can get all the brands other than just like one or two.

Yeah and that's the products and the service so good.

Department stores in general have taken a beating, though, as more and more consumers turned to specialty⁷ retailers and discount stores.While Federated and May have nearly 30 billion dollars in combined annual sales,ten times that amount flows to the cash registers of Wal-Mart.Marilyn Hanson is browsing⁸ at Fashion Valley but said she does more of her shopping these days at specialty stores.

Sometimes at Christmas, I'll do, you know, a lot more shopping,but most of the time I just (stood) stay out of the department stores.

Federated Chairman Terry Lundgren acknowledged the challenges facing department stores today in a web-cast news conference,but he said the acquisition of May will help make Federated a premier⁹ national retailer⁴ with the strong presence in all but one of the nation's major markets.
We believe passionately¹⁰ that department stores have an important place in the ever-changing and very competitive broad retail environment.I think we are proving that the department store can be a vibrant,very much alive form of retailing¹¹.This combination will further strengthen our leading position in the sector¹².

The merger¹³ is expected to give Federated more clout¹⁴ in negotiating with suppliers and landlords. Analysts¹⁵ say antitrust concern should be limited since there are fewer than 100 shopping malls where the two chains compete head to head.Retail consultant¹⁶ George Willon agrees with Lundgren that department stores are not facing extinction¹⁷ in the retail business,but he said the chains do have to do a better job before appealing to young people and ever more value-conscious shoppers.

Many department stores rely on this sale of week mentality,start at one price and then the next week it's a different price , the next week it's different price.I think consumers are smarter in that today.And they figured that out so they wait until it goes on sale.

Lately ,Federated has been more successful than May in drawing additional business to its stores and it has been more focused with its Macy's brand name.Unlike May ,which operates stores under an assortment¹⁸ of regional names,Federated says many of those regional stores would be converted to Macy's or Bloomingdale's.But the combined company may continue to operate stores under the Lord &Taylor and Marshall Field's names after listening to customers.

Scott Hosley, NPR news.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

4 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

7 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

8 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

10 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

11 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

14 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

15 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

16 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

17 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

18 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。