NEW YORK – Sales at U.S. retail stores open at least one year declined 0.3 percent over the past week after falling 0.6 percent the week before, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers report for the seven days ended April 21, Bloomberg News said.
Compared with year-ago levels, sales rose 2.1 percent – the smallest gain in six weeks – after rising 2.3 percent the week before. “Sales continue to be dramatically impacted by shifts in the calendar,” Michael Niemira, ICSC’s chief economist, said in today’s ICSC-UBS Securities LLC statement. Easter this year came earlier than usual, on April 8, pushing holiday sales back into March and early April.
Chilly weather also may have contributed to the slump, the ICSC said, noting that temperatures last week were 2.1 degrees below normal and 6.9 degrees below year-ago levels.
Discount retailer Target yesterday said that, because of the weather, its April sales may be “much weaker” than anticipated, Bloomberg said, while Wal-Mart had predicted April 12 that it sales this month would be flat or decline, citing a “tough sales environment.”
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 representing about 10 percent of U.S. retail sales.
