ICSC: Hot weather helps boost same-store sales 0.3%

NEW YORK – Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 0.3 percent last week, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS Securities LLC report for the week ended Sept. 8, Bloomberg News said.
The Labor Day holiday and last week’s hot, dry weather combined to boost sales of summer clearance items and back-to-school supplies, the report said.
Compared with the same week of 2006, same-store sales rose 2.9 percent – the most in five weeks – as consumer spending continued at a “moderate pace,” despite the nation’s August decline in jobs, the ICSC said.
“Monthly sales results have been picking up recently, and we believe they could continue to improve,” Michelle Tan, retail analyst at UBS in New York, wrote in the report. For all of September, the report predicted sales may rise 2.5 percent compared with the same month last year.
The International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade group, and investment bank UBS Securities LLC track same-store sales at about 60 chains that represent about 10 percent of U.S. retail sales. Additional information is available at www.icsc.org.