Chain Store Sales Up Sharply From Last Year

New York, NY, Nov. 10, 2009–The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs reported that weekly chain store sales through the week of Nov. 7 rose 2.9 percent from one year ago, mainly due to easy comparisons given the retail sales slide in November 2008.

Sales during that month fell by a historic 7.7 percent. However, for this past week, sales dropped 0.1 percent from the previous week ending six consecutive week-to-week increases at the cash register.
 
“Mixed influences prevailed this past week as sales declined on a weekly basis but rose on a year-over-year basis,” said Michael P. Niemira, ICSC chief economist.

“Consumers are largely not focused on holiday shopping yet as the ICSC-Goldman Sachs holiday survey found that more shoppers expect to start their holiday shopping on the day following Thanksgiving–the newly dubbed  ‘Bargain Friday ‘–than in any recent year,” he said.