Every time you don't buy a house, someone in Ft Worth cries

Home sales drop so no one needs all that Pottery Barn furniture anymore.

It has to be that, right? It can't be a style thing, right? "'[I]n mid-July, we believed that the softness we were seeing was specific to the execution of our Pottery Barn summer merchandising strategy,' Lester said in a statement. 'Today, however, after five weeks in home with our new Pottery Barn fall catalog, we believe there is a greater macro-economic issue also affecting this business.'"

Cling to the macro. It makes things so much scarier for a struggling competitor like, oh, Pier 1. But the good news: "sales at stores open at least a year, have gone up for...Pottery Barn Kids...in the second quarter...Pottery Barn Kids' increased by 8.1 percent, up from a 4.1 percent jump last year."

Pier 1, your response? Well, OK then.