Retail Sales Surge in September
September was the strongest month for retail sales in a year and a half. But was this a harbinger of good times to come or merely a fluke?
Discounters, high-end department stores and specialty stores continued to post significant gains, while mid-tier department stores found their sales flat or only marginally improved.
Benefits from the child tax rebate and an improving stock market may have made shoppers feel richer than they felt at the beginning of the year, according to Kurt Barnard of Barnard’s Retail Trend Report. While September’s retail sales were the strongest they have been in 18 months, the positive performance is not necessarily a sure sign of economic recovery, Barnard said. Strong unemployment continues to cause many shoppers to pinch their pennies.
Apparel specialty stores continued to prove they know how to please customers. Specialty stores boasted a 7.9 percent gain in September, according to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi’s tally of 77 chain stores. Anaheim, Calif.–based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and City of Industry, Calif.–based Hot Topic Inc. continued their meteoric rise, with 18.5 percent and 9 percent same-store sales gains, respectively.
The Neiman Marcus Group Inc., based in Dallas, showed a same-store sales gain of 13.6 percent, while fellow high-end department store Nordstrom Inc., based in Seattle, was up 7.7 percent.
Target Corp., increasingly attractive to price-conscious middle-class consumers, boasted a same-store sales gain of 5.4 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was up 6 percent.
Not all specialty stores came out winners. Dallas-based Gadzooks Inc. continued to post negative numbers as it adjusted to its women’s apparel–only format. Its same-store sales were down 32.5 percent.
The Wet Seal Inc., which lost another executive when Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Walter Parks resigned on Oct. 13, saw its same-store sales drop 10 percent. —Christian M. Chensvold
