May Results Mixed
Retailers’ sales trended up 2.6 percent in May, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. However, economist Michael Niemira said the month’s results were uneven overall.
Cool temperatures reined in some sales, and retailers’ fiscal calendars counted the Memorial Day weekend sales in June, according to Niemira, the chief economist for the New York–based ICSC.
If the results were uneven, they showed some underlying strength. “However, the 2.6 percent increase was still a strong showing, especially considering that the shift in the Memorial Day holiday was also a drag on sales, somewhere on the order of 1 percentage point,” Niemira said in a prepared statement.
Overall, department stores reported good results for May. Macy’s reported a 1.4 percent increase in its same-store sales compared with May 2009. Macy’s chairman and President Terry J. Lundgren said sales would have increased by 5 percent if Memorial Day sales were not counted in June. “Our business trend strengthened toward the end of the month as the weather turned warmer and we approached Memorial Day,” he said in a prepared statement.
Other department stores reporting good results included Neiman Marcus, Saks and Nordstrom, which respectively reported same-store-sales increases of 7.8 percent, 5.8 percent and 3.7 percent.
May was a drag for many specialty retailers. Hot Topic reported a decline of 9 percent. Buckle and Gap reported declines of 5.4 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Wet Seal reported a decline of 5.3 percent. Wet Seal Chief Executive Ed Thomas blamed the weather and the calendar shift.
“As we previously disclosed, results through most of May were soft,” he said. “We believe this was attributable, in part, to unfavorable weather patterns in much of the country and, possibly, a pause by consumers after relatively strong buying earlier in the year.”
Off-pricers continued to report strong sales results. Ross Stores reported a same-store-sales increase of 5 percent. TJX reported a same-store increase of 4 percent.
Sales might improve in June, according to the ICSC, which forecast a 3 percent retail sales increase over June 2009.—Andrew Asch
