- 2024-01-11
- Posted by: kimsite
- Categories: Commentary, Insights, News
Click here to listen to the full interview.
AMY FREEZE: I’d like to bring in one of my friends here in Chicago, Fox Business Analyst, Scotty Martin. Scott, thanks for stopping by. First of all,
SCOTT MARTIN: Amy Freeze says it’s freezing, so we have to listen to that. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a joke.
FREEZE: That’s actually very true. You’ve lived in Chicago for a long time, and you’re also a snow lover. This comes on the last day of the workweek heading into the weekend. So it’s a double-edged sword. People want to get that last bit of business
MARTIN: In. They do, and they have the weekend ahead of them, Amy, where they’re going to go out, spend, go to restaurants, go to movies, go downtown, whatever it is. If we get what you’re talking about, six to 12 inches, maybe some wind, maybe some blizzard conditions, all of a sudden people don’t go out. So these stores that we see behind us, ready and geared up for those post-holiday sales, don’t sell the goods. Whether people come out next week and start spending again, maybe. Conversely, these stores that want to sell those goods have to put stuff on discounts to get them moved.
FREEZE: As somebody who lives here, you’ve seen what’s come through early in the winter. It’s been a couple of false alarms thinking we’re going to have snow. It doesn’t really accumulate, it doesn’t stick. Do you think people are going to be on guard for this storm, or is it a situation where they think, “Oh, it’s
MARTIN: Not going to happen again? Same. Yes, exactly. I pride myself on sleeping when that happens because I want that load to go just about 30 miles east of us and just nail us. But I think people start to get used to that too. I do love this, I love severe weather, and so I think people get used to the fact that we get missed sometimes because of warm lake water, warm air action, storm track, so they don’t take it as seriously. But I do know Chicago very well. We adapt quickly. So when the snow starts coming down, as you laid out just a couple of minutes ago, people will take note and then they’ll stay home most likely and be safe, maybe order DoorDash or something inside. Well,
FREEZE: There’s a way to spend money. Is there anything
MARTIN: Business-wise,
FREEZE: Very much. Is there anything business-wise that really makes a weekday versus a weekend storm different for people’s pocketbooks?
MARTIN: It does typically because most folks save up, if you will, or save up the mental energy over the week to spend money on Friday and kind of go out and celebrate the weekend, go to restaurants, movies, etc., take flights, and all those things are at risk now, Amy, over the next couple of days. So you kind of waste that time period now that we move into the beginning of the year when we’re concentrating on consumer spending. We talk a lot about that on Fox Business, and so this is a big period to lose as far as consumer spending and a start to the year if people don’t go out because of the weather.
FREEZE: Yeah, it’s tough. I appreciate you stopping by. I know you’re going to be out and about as we go throughout the weekend. Stay safe during
MARTIN: The summer. My pleasure. Good to see you,
FREEZE: Fox Business Analyst, Scotty Martin, stay warm. Thank you so much for dropping by. Get back into Steven. When we look at the setup here, a lot of different people are impacted in different ways.
