00:00So overall, this is a pretty strong report. It's a really strong beat on Q2. As you noted,
00:06it's an outlook raise. But investors have high expectations for this company now.
00:14And looking at, you know, they had a really strong third quarter last year. So I think the
00:20company is being conservative with its growth forecast, measuring year over year after last
00:25year is a really strong quarter. They're giving themselves some room. And I think analysts and
00:32investors have high expectations. What's the strategy now for Macy's? How does Macy's want to
00:39position itself in the retail space these days? This is really interesting. So if you look at
00:44their results, what's working the best? I mean, Bloomingdale's had a blowout quarter in Q2. I
00:50think they had their strongest Q2 revenue ever. The higher end is doing well. And Blue Mercury had
00:57posted strong results too. That's their higher end cosmetics, sorry, like hair and creams and
01:07cosmetics brand. And now we're seeing them talk a little bit about this like higher end Macy's that
01:15we're going to begin to see with real fur and real leather. They're definitely leaning in on the
01:20higher end consumer.
01:22That seems to be the play, Paul, for all these consumer facing companies. You've got a K-shaped
01:26economy and the higher income customer is spending. And that's where the growth is. And everyone else
01:32is feeling the pressure and being much more selective. So why cater to people who are going
01:36to be a lot more selective about their spending? Go chase the higher end consumer.
01:40Even like the airlines, putting in more higher price seats versus the lower. I mean,
01:43I've seen it across the board. So I don't know. It's a trend. Why not in retail too?
01:47So what's the story here? I mean, what are they saying about the consumer in general? Are they
01:52kind of, because I mean, they probably have a pretty good finger on the pulse.
01:56So we heard them call out the lower end shopper coming in two or three times before buying something,
02:01being more deliberate. We also heard them say GLP ones are helping the business. People have to go out
02:08and buy new wardrobes, which is really interesting where they're struggling. They're struggling in their
02:14plus size department, that this is a really interesting storyline here where consumers
02:19That is, I mean, if these drugs get more and more available, you know, the rose of the world and
02:23all that stuff.
02:24Wow.
02:25Yeah, totally.
02:26And it's a constant thing. It's not a one-time thing either, right? Because you have new groups of people
02:30who are going to be using GLP-1 drugs. So this market just kind of expands or is constant at
02:36least.
02:36And it's a global story. And I think we're not even there yet in terms of like, these drugs are
02:40still
02:41pretty expensive. But as the competition heats up, as when generics eventually hit the market,
02:47they're already hitting the market in countries like Brazil. This is going to be a huge potential
02:55tailwind for the retailers.
02:57At one point, I remember Macy's was shutting down some less non-performing stores or stores that
03:02weren't performing as well. Where, where are they with that? Are they at the right number? Do they
03:07think that they have the right kind of presence across different communities?
03:11Yeah, we saw, we're still seeing the store count go down, which I think is a smart move.
03:18They definitely, you know, there was an era when every Macy's earnings report was doom and gloom.
03:24They had too many stores. We're definitely seeing that, seeing that store count come.
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