Headlines

Retail Sales Dip in May

Shoppers are still in a wait-and-see mood

Published

15 years ago

June 5, 2009

VMSD Staff

May wasn’t such a merry month for the nation’s retailers. Thompson Reuters reported softer May sales for 63 percent of the 30 major retailers it tracks. Overall, the numbers were down 4.5 percent, with upscale chains taking the hardest hit in Thompson Reuters’ survey. The International Council of Shopping Centers' (ICSC’s) index called it as a 4.6 percent year-over-year decline in same-store sales for U.S. chain stores. Goldman Sachs’ Retail Composite Index showed the year-over-year drop for stores open at least a year as 6.3 percent.

Not all the news was bad, however. Drug store chains such as Walgreens and Rite Aid landed in positive territory, as did discounters such as TJX Corp., the parent company of brands such as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and A.J. Wright in the U.S., Winners, HomeSense and STYLESENSE in Canada, and T.K. Maxx and HomeSense in Europe.

June looks better, but only by comparison. ICSC expects comparable store sales will be off 3 to 4 percent over last year.

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