Mixed Bag

Retailers'sales for the first month of 2002 showed discount chains continuing to prosper and traditional department stores still struggling.

On Thursday, several of the nation's largest retailers reported January sales at stores open at least a year, a key industry gauge. Leading the pack was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.), which posted an 8.3 percent jump in same-store sales for the month, and Target Corp. (Minneapolis), whose numbers were up 5.8 percent.

Among those reporting lower same-store sales were Gap Inc. (San Francisco), whose results fell 16 percent from a year earlier, and Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) — operator of Macy's and Bloomingdale's — which reported an 8.8 percent drop.

January is often a slow month for retailers, with stores using the lull between the holidays and the spring season to sell off leftover holiday inventory. However, discount chains such as Wal-Mart and Target have been grabbing market share steadily from traditional department stores in the last year, as consumers turned increasingly cautious in the midst of an economic downturn.