Hot Weather, Chilly Sales in October '07
October retail sales grew by an anemic 1.6 percent, according to the New York– based International Council of Shopping Centers. The ICSC and many businesses blamed the month’s tepid performance on hot weather during October and September. The expected cold weather of the holiday season might bring good news to retailers, according to Michael Niemira, the ICSC’s chief economist.
Niemira expects that people will want to buy cold weather clothes when temperatures drop and sales will increase. He forecast that sales might increase 2.5 percent in November compared with the same time in the previous year.
If the hot weather threw a wet blanket on the month’s sales, the Halloween holiday seemed to do little to revive October’s fortunes. Halloween has historically been an important event to rock-friendly mall retailer Hot Topic, based in City of Industry, Calif.
Liz Pierce, an analyst with finance company Roth Capital Partners of Newport Beach, Calif., wrote on Nov. 8 that she expected more of a Halloween boost at Hot Topic. Sales for Hot Topic’s Halloween-specific merchandise increased 4 percent compared with the previous year. But it did not lift sales for the retailer’s non- Halloween-based items, which declined 4 percent.
Anaheim, Calif.–based Pacific Sunwear also experienced a tough October. Its comparablestore sales declined 0.8 percent. Pierce blamed the decline on the consistent drag of PacSun’s demo division, which reported a decline of 22.8 percent. The company’s Pacific Sunwear division reported an increase of 2.3 percent.
Luxury retailers continued to do well. Neiman Marcus reported an 8.5 percent increase in same-store sales, and Saks’ comparable-store sales increased 10.6 percent in October. However, Nordstrom reported a 2.4 percent decline in its samestore sales. Nordstrom spokesperson Chris Holloway said that this month’s firestorms in San Diego hurt Nordstrom’s California sales.—Andrew Asch
