Research >> Economics
ICSC Chain Store Sales slipped by 2.0% in May 3 Wk
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Despite the April calendar lift to sales that retailers enjoyed with the later Easter, severe weather hampered the final fiscal week's results. As a result weekly retail sales slipped by 2.0% for the week ending May 3, 2014, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis sales slowed to 2.0%.
"According to Weather Trends International (WTI), the U.S. average national temperature was 1.3F colder than last year with severe storms and widespread flooding in the East," said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. "According to the ICSC-GS consumer tracking survey, business - relative to the same week of the prior year - generally was soft with notable weakness at discounters, department stores, office supply and specialty stores, but some offsetting strength at wholesale clubs and furniture stores," Niemira added.
For the industry as a whole, ICSC Research estimates that the March Easter shift subtracted about one percentage point from monthly sales growth, which will be added back to the April year-over-year pace. Looking ahead, ICSC Research forecasts that April monthly comp-store sales will increase between an upper 3.0% to low 4.0% range on a year-over-year basis with strong gains (already reported) from the drug chains when retailers release their monthly sales figures on Thursday, May 8, 2014.
Posted: May 6, 2014 Tuesday 07:45 AM