Jeanne is an outstanding retail and management talent who has developed successful brands and programs in both traditional and online retail channels, |
John will continue to accelerate changes in the largest segment of our business. |
Many changes we see now are very positive. |
Mike has brought to the U.S. operations exactly what was needed during the last couple of years. Mike has the ability and the management confidence to delegate responsibility to the best people in his organization, and develop and promote them. This new assignment will give us the opportunity to apply those skills to our overseas operations. |
Our competitors are getting better. Across this world our competitors are getting better, ... The weaker links are having to drop out because they can't compete. The bar is being raised in this competitive arena so it's on our shoulders to do the right thing in this environment. |
Our goal for the second half of the year remains double-digit earnings growth,. However, given the current economic environment this will be difficult to achieve, ... We expect earnings growth in the second half will show improvement over the first half of this year as we leverage our sales and market share gains, but the growth may not meet our original goals. |
Our results were not up to Wal-Mart standards, |
Our sales were lower than we are satisfied with but the economy continues to improve and we are well positioned for the holidays. With the help of our associates, I look forward to another record quarter and a successful holiday season, |
Roses, roses are always a favorite. It's an expression of love, everybody knows what the rose stands for. |
Texas was a growth area for Wal-Mart, |
That's when they become the experts and can help teach the other kids. It's the highlight of my day. |
The consumer still seems to us to be very cautious and probably will remain so until we see improvement in employment, |
the misrepresentation of Wal-Mart. |
The only real economic concern I have is that oil prices will erase improvements in employment and real income for a portion of our customer base...an important portion of our customer base, |
The planned square footage growth for the coming year represents approximately 46 million square feet of new retail space, which will be the largest square footage increase in the company's history and a 9 percent increase over the fiscal 2002 total, |