October Sales Solid, but Slow
The winners in retail sales this October were discounters and off-price stores while specialty stores showed mixed results.Overall, October retail sales increased by 3.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, said the International Council of Shopping Centers. Michael Niemira, chief economist for the ICSC, said October sales showed strength, but other analysts said the month’s sales were mixed.Target Corp. and Ross Stores reported same-store sales increased 3.3 percent and 5 percent, respectively. But department stores reported slower sales during the previous month. JCPenney’s sales declined #8232;2.6 percent, and retail giant Macy’s Inc. showed a moderate 2.2 percent increase. Macy’s Chairman and President Terry Lundgren noted that October sales were the smallest for the current quarter.Specialty-store sales were mixed. The Buckle Inc. showed strong results with an 8.7 percent increase. The Wet Seal Inc. showed a decline of 9.7 percent. Susan McGalla, Wet Seal’s chief executive, blamed the decline on Wet Seal cutting its Halloween category this year. Apparel showed signs of slowing down after a good Back-to-School season, said MasterCard SpendingPulse, a market-research firm. The slowdown might be part of the typical lull between the Back-to-School and Christmas shopping seasons, said Michael McNamara, SpendingPulse’s vice president of research and analysis. But heavy snowstorms in the Northeast and unseasonably warm weather in other parts of the country did not help retailers much. The Halloween holiday did not have a galvanizing impact on October sales, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for market-research firm The NPD Group Inc. The Port Washington, N.Y.–based group’s research found that consumer traffic increased during the last week of October, but the boost in traffic did not turn into sales.—A.A.
