Retailers finding it difficult to keep their prices down

By ELLEN SIMON • Associated Press • August 5, 2008 NEW YORK — Coming to a store near you: Even higher prices. Most inflation this year has come from food and fuel, as retailers resisted passing along to strapped consumers the higher prices manufacturers charged them, but coming increases from companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Hasbro Inc. may leave them with no choice. "While these increases have not for the most part been passed on at the retail level, it is inevitable that they will be at some point," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Car dealers and other retailers cannot continue to absorb rising costs at the wholesale level and not pass some of these increases on to consumers." Sherwin Williams Co. on July 17 announced its third price increase in eight months. The company... [read full story]