Year-To-Date Retail Sales Best Since 2006

New York, NY, July 8, 2010–U.S. retail sales continued to grow in June, the International Council of Shopping Centers trade group said.

Chain stores posted a 3.0% gain in June–within the expected 3-4%, but at its low end.

The best performing segments were luxury (+8.8%) and department stores overall (+5.9%).

ICSC said it expects that the pace of sales for July will continue within the 3-4% range.  On a fiscal year-to-date basis, total sales grew by 3.8%–still the best performance since 2006.

Retailers may have bucked last month’s drop in consumer confidence. The year-to- date growth in sales shows that spending, a key driver of the U.S. economy, is faring better than many investors are betting, said Michael Niemira, the ICSC’s chief economist.

Chain store sales index for the week ending July 3 rose by a solid 1.0% on a week-over-week basis.

Sales at Nordstrom, the U.S. department-store chain with more than 100 locations, jumped 14.1% at stores open at least a year, more than the 9.1% average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Retail Metrics Inc.

Sales at J.C. Penney, the third-largest U.S. department store, climbed 4.5%, compared with a 3.7% projection. Macy’s Inc., the No. 2 department store, rose 6.5%, also topping estimates.