Research >> Economics
ICSC Chain Store Sales unchanged% in May 7 Wk
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With the arrival of May and Mother’s Day consumers had another reason to shop. Although department stores likely benefitted from Mother’s Day, the ICSC-Goldman Sachs weekly consumer tracking survey also found that wholesale clubs, office supply, furniture and electronics stores saw customer traffic improve over the last week. However, customer traffic was off at apparel, dollar and drug stores over the past week. Net of these shifts, sales for the week ending May 7 were flat, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales continued to slow a bit to 2.7 percent.
“Over the last week, Mother’s Day sales helped customer traffic flows, but consumers were also exploring other more discretionary spending, such as at furniture and electronic stores,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. “After two months of spending volatility from week to week, May is likely to return to a more trend-like pace,” added Niemira.
Posted: May 10, 2011 Tuesday 07:45 AM