Macke's Retail Roundup+ Articles

There is no time off from stock research. Not in the consumer space. Everything you do, everything you consider doing, on vacation is a datapoint. I can't afford to relax on vacations. I can't learn much going to the same malls over and over again. That's for civilians. I need reps. I don't go to 1 Starbucks and time the transaction. I go to all of them. Don't believe me? He's the Starbucks at the Vancouver convention center at 11am on a Thursday. Service time from order to pick-up: 3 minutes and 52 seconds. Just as fast as NYC last winter. Starbucks is higher today because a divestiture of the China business is valuing the division at $10b, which is higher than expected. I'd love Starbucks to leave China but I'm really stoked to see the Vancouver Starbucks matching the speed of the units in Annapolis, NYC, Claremont, Los Angeles, Seattle and everywhere else I've been in the last year. 

Starbucks can only divest its China business once. They can serve coffee faster 11 million times a day. Both of them are good for the stock price but serving faster and all the goes with it is going to...

It didn't seem to impact Jeff Bezos' wedding but shares of Amazon have made almost no progress so far in 2025. With YTD gains of only 2% $AMZN is underperforming the S&P500, not to mention fellow Three King Merchants Walmart and Costco:

I'm talking my book, and Amazon isn't quite the bargain it was before ramping off the Tariff Pause (more on that below) but shares of Amazon are probably the best deal consumers are going to find during Summer Christmas ("Prime Day" to laypeople) this week. 

Here are three reasons to buy Amazon now:

1. The Consumer is Spending More Than Expected... at least at the good merchants

I hear the objections to this already. Retail sales were down in May. And according to surveys (or at least the headlines interpreting consumer surveys). At this point May was 100 years ago. In the here and now Amazon's Prime Day has been extended to 4 days, which essentially matches the week long copy-cat sales offered at Target, Walmart and the other retailers who have been trying to compete with Amazon's...

Mid-year review and forecast video for Retail Roundup+ Members!

Happy 4th of July!

Written Portfolio Update of the RoundUp10 and Starting 10 portfolios through June 13, 2025

Portfolio Update Through June 5, 2025

If you aren't watching the US Open are you even working?

Leaving aside the finances of LIV and the PGA. You can also throw out the slow-growth, low-margin equipment business. I'm here for the outfits. These fittish, highly-strung men are soldiers in the global war for the soul of the most loyal, price-oblivious customers in all of retail: Men. All golf clothes are basically athleisure now. Men's athleisure is a $100b business and growing. 

Here's Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka. 

Justin is wearing a $98 Talo Polo and $198 Sequoia Knit Trousers from Greyson Clothiers. Justin is one of the financial backers of Greyson, which just raised $20 million in Series A money. Greyson didn't disclose the terms but if the company pulls in, say, $50 million $250 million would be a ballpark guess. Other "friends of Greyson" include Jon Rahm, Shane Lowrey, and Justin Timberlake, who used to be big with the kids.

The Greyson website lets you cosplay as your favorite golfers with a simple click. And, seriously, any brand that works for Justin Timberlake and...

There's been a new addition to the market-trouncing Retail Roundup10 Portfolio.

Click here to see what stock I'm adding as Wall Street squirms. 

Starbucks shares are racing toward $100 on "market chatter" of a possible China exit.

Here's why it matters and what it means for the stock.

Stitch Fix keeps refusing to die. The all-but-forgotten clothing box membership service is seeing shares jump after losing less and selling more than analysts expected in Q3. What should you do with shares near 2025 highs and up more than 100% since April 7th? 

Get my full report card on SFIX's quarter and how I'm playing the stock.  

I break down the quarter and give the company its full grade for members in the LINK

I told you Lululemon had its work cut out for it when it reported earnings Thursday night but I didn't think it would be quite this bad. With shares off 20% you can bet value shoppers will at least try to protect old lows of ~$250 for this once beloved fashion pioneer. Should you Buy the Dip or Run Away? 

Check out my Earnings Report Card for LULU before you decide.

Mind the Gap!

As feared, Gap was a sell-the-news moment, with shares crumbling 20%, dragging the Round-10 Portfolio to its first, and only, down week of the month.

Up 10% since March 20 and finding opportunities for the back half of the year!