Retail Chains See Sales Growth in February
NEW YORK — Retail chain stores are posting a 4.2 percent year-over-year comparable store gain for February 2011.According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, this gain shows stronger sales than anticipated.
"The breadth and the strength of the sales gain in February was encouraging as more retailers and retail segments participated in the improvement," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for ICSC. "This widespread improvement is on the heels of improving labor markets, broader improving economic conditions, and the reduction in payroll tax – all of which are more than offsetting the potentially negative drag of high fuel and food prices on consumer mindsets."
The shift in the date of Easter this year compared with last (April 4, 2010 vs. April 24, 2011) will create some unevenness in the sales pace over the next two months. For March, ICSC projects sales will be flat to up 2% as the Easter shift will be a drag on sales. However, things should even out quickly and for April ICSC's early expectations are for an increase of about 5%.
The trade association for the shopping center industry surveys corporate retail chains such as Target, Dillard's, J.C. Penny or Costco. Franchised chains are not significantly represented. U.S. retail industry's sales are a compilation of publicly-available sales for 28 chain stores. Industry sales aggregates are compiled for "comparable-store" or "same-store" sales and for total store sales. The data is presented as an index. Comparable-store sales are also compiled for specialized-industry groupings, which include aggregates for apparel chain stores, department stores, discount stores, drug stores, footwear stores and wholesale clubs.
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