Stores Opening, Stores Closing - What Does It Mean?

President Obama says that the U.S. economy is recovering and that the "bleeding has stopped", but other critics say that things are still going downhill. Who's right, and who's wrong? Quite frankly, it's really hard to tell.

Just recently, Kohl's, a major clothing and home furnishing retailer, announced that they will be opening 21 more stores. That very same day, Jack in the Box, a major fast food chain, announced that they will be closing 40 stores.

Both have over 1,000 locations nationwide, but yet one is expanding and the other is retracting. Why is this?

It could be that perhaps the U.S. economy is making a comeback, but maybe for every two steps taken forward - one step is taken backwards. This could very likely explain why some are experiencing expansion and success, and others are still experiencing setbacks.

Another explanation could be that some states are outperforming others in their economic progress. It's interesting to note that Jack in the Box is mostly closing locations in Texas, but Kohl's is adding stores in nearly every state in the south except Texas. This could be an indication that Texas may be recovering at a slower pace.

In all actuality though, there could be all kinds of explanations for what's really going on.

The one thing, however, that all entrepreneurs should take from this is that there are businesses that are seeing growth and stronger sales. This means that there is an upside in a down economy. Even for me, during the month of September, I saw that sales for my company were more stronger than any other month in the past year.

This is likely attributed to the fact that I've never let up on advertising on marketing, and maybe this is what Kohl's has done too versus Jack in the Box who may have decreased their marketing efforts.

Whatever the reason, many businesses are seeing good results and you can too! Just keeping at it, and don't give up.