read this, page-2

Great article CT

Very relevant.

We all know that there has been a shift in consumer preferences in the US to Walmart, Dollar Tree and other non-discretionary retailers.

A movement in consumer preferences here would bode well also for CER. Big W who is mentioned a few times in the article contributed 3.4% of Australian ABR as at 31 Dec 08.

If you look at CER's top 10 Aust retailers as at 31 Dec 08, they are mostly non-discretionary.

Top 10 is as follows:

Woolworths/Safeway - ABR 7.4%
Coles - 4.3%
Big W - 3.4%
kmart - 3.3%
Target 2.6%
Myer - 1.3%
Reject Shop - 1%
best and Less - 0.9%
David Jones - 0.8%
Millers - 0.8%

Total ABR for top 10 - 25.8%

Only Myer and David Jones, you could say are not non-discretionary in nature.

Kmart has also not been performing as well as Target and BigW.

The Aust portfolio should continue to thrive in the forseeable future

Cheers