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ICSC Chain Store Sales rose by 2.7% in Feb 16 Wk
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The ICSC‐Goldman Sachs (ICSC‐GS) chain store sales index for the week ending February 16, 2013 rose smartly by 2.7% from its prior week’s level ‐‐ but weakened to a 1.8% pace relative to last year. Valentine’s Day gift shopping helped to propel consumer traffic in some segments, but business was mixed overall. Over the last week, segments that may have been helped by the Valentine’s Day shopping included grocery stores, apparel and department stores. According to the ICSC‐GS consumer tracking survey, grocery‐store business remained strong relative to last year, which may have been helped by flowers sales. Apparel business was strong in the latest week while department store business showed some pick up. Discount business was a bit stronger in the past week than the previous week (which Wal‐Mart executives complained was the worst start of a February in at least seven year and asked: where are the consumers?), while office, electronics and wholesale clubs all showed accentuated weakness, according the ICSC‐GS survey.
According to Weather Trends International, Inc. (WTI), the U.S. average nationwide temperature was 1.3°F warmer than last year and 1.9°F above its long‐term trend. WTI observed, “for the nation as a whole, last week was the warmest second week of the retail February in four years, but not too far from normal for mid‐February. Spring categories in the Deep South may have seen a bit of an increase, while the rest of the nation was still in a winter mindset.”
Meanwhile, the average price of a gallon of regular‐grade gasoline continued its march higher for the ninth‐consecutive week. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. average price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline was $3.747 on February 18, 2013‐‐up 13.6 cents from the prior week and a hefty 49.3 cents cumulatively over the past nine weeks.
Posted: February 20, 2013 Wednesday 07:45 AM