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ICSC Chain Store Sales rose 0.4% in Dec 26 Wk
The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Retail Chain Store Sales Index rose 0.4% in the week ended Saturday from the week before on a seasonally adjusted, comparable-store basis.
The increase came as shoppers completed their last-minute holiday season shopping, which had been delayed due to the prior week's winter storms in the Southeast and Northeast.
"Consumers were out in force to finish shopping and the preliminary indications appear that sales are on track to finish up about 2% for the month of December," ICSC chief economist Michael Niemira said.
Last week, Niemira said gift-buyers had lagged behind in their gift buying, having only completed about 70% of their purchases--about 10 percentage points lower than last year. On a year-on-year basis, the reading rose 2.3%.
Posted: December 29, 2009 Tuesday 07:45 AM