What effects have the slumping economy and rising food prices had on The Swiss Colony?
We’re seeing how the economy has affected consumer confidence. Our sales are off just a tick from what we would have expected. Not a lot, maybe a point or a point and a half down in a couple spots that would normally have held up pretty well. Fortunately, it’s not as bad for us right now as it is for a lot of other companies. But we do think the reality is the consumer is backing off, from a spending standpoint. There are cost pressures on us, just like on any consumer who goes to the grocery store sees that the cost of chocolate, flour or eggs is up. Those are the same ingredients we use in our bakery. And while we can’t pass all that cost on to our end consumer, we have found that we are under pressure to raise our prices some. But we’re trying to be careful about it. Other industry pressures that are making life difficult for us are that we’re seeing very substantial increases in the cost of paper, ink and postage, each of which have gone up more than 20 percent over the past year a
