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June Sales Better Than Expected

A month of warm weather melted some of the winter blues held by some retailers, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York trade group for the shopping-center business.

Same-store sales charted by ICSC in June climbed 5.9 percent, said Michael Niemira, an ICSC research consultant. The results beat ICSC’s earlier forecasts, which predicted that June sales would only increase 3.5 percent.

“Overall retail sales performance was healthy and strong in June, following a sluggish winter, with consumers shopping for staple items, and modest spending on non-essential items like apparel,” Niemira said.

June’s sales results also were judged better than expected by Adrienne Tennant, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets. “Based on our checks, we believe weeks four and five were the best, driven by pre–July Fourth buying and hot weather, while trends in the earlier part of the month were choppy. June is a transitional month and typically lacks reason to buy until the latter part of the month, leading into the July Fourth week,” she wrote in a July 10 note.

Ken Perkins, president of market-research firm Retail Metrics, also credited June’s good performance to improved consumer confidence, Retailers were offering more deals and promotions. Plus, more people had jobs.

Perkins noted, however, that retailers have not left their economic troubles behind. He quoted gloomy assessments of the U.S. retail environment.

Kip Tindell, chief executive of The Container Store, said that America is in a “retail funk.” Walmart President Bill Simon observed that U.S. employment gains have not been felt at the cash register yet.

One of the month’s retail winners was Zumiez Inc. The teen retailer posted same-store sales of 3.1 percent.

For retail giant Gap Inc., June was a middling month. The San Francisco company reported that same-store sales declined 2 percent, but its Old Navy division, which sells economically priced apparel, posted a 7 percent rise in same-store sales.