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Wild Ride for Retailers in November

Retailers reported mixed sales after a rollercoaster ride for business in November.

Market researcher Ken Perkins, president of the Boston-area Retail Metrics, said that shoppers seemed to take a break from shopping during days leading up to the Nov. 8 election night of the hard-fought presidential election. However, later in the month, millions of shoppers opened their wallets for the traditional start of the winter holiday retail season on Thanksgiving and the Black Friday weekend.

The late-month shopping spree found a boost with good economic news. Unemployment is generally down across the United States. The unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, according to a Nov. 4 statement from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A Southern California area—made up of the cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim—saw an increase of 111,200 jobs in October—the third-largest year-over-year employment increases in the country. Consumer confidence climbed to pre-recession levels in November, said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators of The Conference Board, a nonprofit research group that measures consumer confidence.

But the good news won’t necessarily translate into sales for retailers, Perkins said in a Nov. 30 research note. “The overarching question for retailers is whether they can capture this spending and turn it into earnings gains,” he said.

November’s winners included L Brands Inc., the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and Henri Bendel. It reported a solid 4 percent same-store-sales increase. Zumiez Inc., a mall-based multi-brand purveyor of action-sports brands, reported an increase of 5.7 percent during the month.

Retailers experiencing challenges during the month included Gap Inc. The retail giant reported a decline of 1 percent in its same-store sales. The destruction from a massive fire in its distribution center in Fishkill, N.Y., still hurt Gap’s bottom line. The company stated that its November comps would have been three points higher were it not for the fire. In October, it also blamed the fire for a 1 percent decline in same-store sales. The Buckle Inc., a denim-focused mall retailer headquartered in Kearney, Neb., also had a tough November. It recorded a decline of 16.2 percent in its same-store sales. The report capped off a 12-month period when it posted double-digit declines almost every month.

On Nov. 30, Guess? Inc. reported its earnings for its third quarter for its 2017 fiscal year. The Los Angeles–headquartered fashion company posted net earnings of $9.1 million, a 26.8 percent decrease from the same quarter in the previous year.­