Research >> Economics
ICSC Chain Store Sales rose 1.0% in Jul 21 Wk
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The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) reported that chain store sales rose 1.0% from the prior week, while increasing 3.3% over the prior-year period during the week ending July 21st, the strongest gain in 5 weeks. “Sales improved over the prior week, but continued a choppy and uneven performance across retail categories,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC’s vice president of research and chief economist. “Apparel store traffic, according to the ICSC-GS consumer tracking survey, improved appreciably as cooler weather than last year for the nation as a whole likely helped lift back-to-school categories and shifted the composition of spending towards higher-value apparel.”
According to Weather Trends, Inc. (WTI) the U.S. average temperature was 1.4°F cooler than last year, but 2.9°F above normal. WTI observed that “overall it was another very hot week for many” in the nation (where there were 135 new record highs for the week), but compared with the prior year’s “record‐setting heat waves” it was actually cooler. The Southwest experienced its coolest temperatures in 14 years, while it was the coolest week in the Northeast in three years. Meanwhile, fuel prices posted their 3rd consecutive increase as the summer driving pressures again put upward pressure on prices at the pump. The US Energy Information Administration said gas prices rose 6.7 cents compared with the prior week to $3.494 on July 23rd. Compared with the same week of the prior year, the price of regular‐grade gasoline fell by 5.5% in the latest week, which was its 14th straight year-over-year drop. For all of July, ICSC Research forecasts a comparable‐store sales gain of about 1.0% to 1.5%, and excluding drug stores, sales are expected to increase by around 3.0% to 3.5%.
Posted: July 24, 2012 Tuesday 07:45 AM