The monthly Consumer Attitude Index from Zions Bank increased by 3.7 percent from March to April. The Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index also rose by 0.7 percent. The Cicero Group conducts the research for Zions. Cicero’s CEO Randy Shumway says while the improving attitude index is causing some concerns about inflation, the state is not close to any real problem with that. He says crossing this attitude index milestone puts the state economy on track to be running on all cylinders by the end of the year.
“…we’ve been tracking four years, this is the first month in its history that we’ve exceeded a hundred points,” says Shumway.
Lee Pettit is the owner and President of Western Garden Centers. The garden retail company first started operations in Utah in 1905. He says the gardening community is growing.
“We’re seeing some excitement from customers coming in and buying the bigger ticket items; the fountains, the larger trees. So what you’ve expressed, we’re beginning to see. But here, locally we’re very much affected by the weather,” says Pettit.
He says he expects store traffic to jump this week with the traditional Mother’s Day planting season just two weeks away. He says being a local company, hiring local people, and having local growers, has helped the company through the slow times.