Sales for the second half of the year are off to a slow start, increasing 2.9 percent from July of 2009, according to a tally by Thomson Reuters, reports The New York Times.
Looking at those sectors that performed well, discount store sales grew 3.9 percent for the month, while the department store sector was up 3.6 percent.
Among retailers:
The TJX Companies Inc.’s (Framingham, Mass.) July 2010 sales grew 6 percent and consolidated comparable store sales increased 2 percent.
JCPenney (Plano, Texas) says same-store sales declined 0.6 percent for the four-week period ended July 31, 2010. The retailer had a strong selling month in June, and says sales were strong during the first week of July with the holiday weekend extending into the July reporting period, but became softer for the balance of the month.
Kohl's Corp. (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) reported its total sales grew 7.1 percent for the month and comparable store sales increased 4.1 percent.
Macy's Inc. (Cincinnati) reports total sales of $1.528 billion for July, an increase of 11 percent, while on a same-store basis, Macy's sales grew 7.3 percent.
In the luxury department store arena, Saks Inc. (New York) announced its sales totaled $167.9 million for the four weeks ended July 31, and increase of 4.8 percent. Same-store sales were also up, rising 6.4 percent for the month. Saks reported the strongest categories were women’s shoes, handbags, women’s sportswear, dresses, fragrances, fashion jewelry and men’s apparel, footwear, and accessories.
Seattle-based Nordstrom’s July sales increased 7.6 percent on a same-store sales basis and preliminary total retail sales were up 10.5 percent.
In Dallas, Neiman Marcus Inc. reported comparable revenues in its specialty retail stores segment, which includes Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman, grew 11.1 percent. The merchandise categories that performed the strongest included women’s apparel, designer handbags, shoes and jewelry.
Among specialty apparel retailers, American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (Pittsburgh) says total sales for the four-week period rose 2 percent while same-store sales were flat for the month, compared to an 11 percent decrease for the same period last year.
Gap Inc. (San Francisco) reported net sales were up 3 percent for the quarter and the company’s comparable store sales increased 1 percent. Among its nameplates, comparable July sales decreased 6 percent at Gap North America; grew 2 percent at
Banana Republic North America; increased 6 percent at Old Navy North America; and rose 3 percent internationally.