April Apparel Sales Strong
April retail sales beat forecasts, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
U.S. retail stores increased by 8.5 percent in April, according to the New York–based trade group. The ICSC forecast sales would climb between 6 percent and 8 percent. Despite the good report, ICSC’s chief economist, Michael P. Niemira, said the economic outlook was mixed.
“Helping to drive sales has been the improving trend in employment growth, but rising fuel and food prices are cutting into discretionary spending power, which is likely to temper the trend pace of spending ahead,” he said.
Easter was scheduled on April 24, and the holiday business paved the way for good sales, and easy comparisons to tepid business during 2010 made for a solid month for many retailers.
Different categories measured by SpendingPulse confirmed good business. Menswear sales increased 12.4 percent. Womenswear increased 7.4 percent. April also marked a month of good sales for beleaguered teen retailer Hot Topic Inc. The teen-focused mall retailer reported that its same-store sales increased 10.5 percent in April. It was the first monthly increase in same-store sales reported by Hot Topic since April 2009.
Upon reporting the good news, Hot Topic also raised its guidance for its first quarter from $0.00 to a loss of $0.02 per share compared with previous guidance of a loss of $0.02 to $0.04 per share.
Hot Topic’s same-store sales benefited from comparisons to its poor business in the previous year, when the retailer reported a decline of 12.5 percent in April 2010. Yet Wall Street analysts were not expecting any major improvement in Hot Topic sales until the 2011 Back-to-School season, However, last month’s business was not a surprise, according to Jeffrey Van Sinderen, a retail analyst at Los Angeles–based financial-services firm B.Riley & Co. “They delivered better numbers; their transactions were up,” he said.
Teen retailer Zumiez Inc. also delivered good news for April. Its same-store sales increased 17.5 percent. Bebe Stores Inc. beat some Wall Street estimates when it reported results for its third quarter, which ended April 2. There was a decrease of 0.7 percent, compared with a decrease of 11.2 percent in the prior year.
April’s good business was spread across the board. Mass marketer Target saw its same-store sales climb 13.1 percent. Offpricer Ross Stores reported a 10 percent increase in same-store sales. Department store Macy’s Inc. reported a same-store-sales increase of 10.8 percent.
ICSC research forecasts an increase of 3 percent to 3.5 percent for the month of May. —Andrew Asch
