Summer Doldrums for Stores

August was another tough month for many retailers, with the majority of companies reporting sales for the period down from a year ago. That trend is reflected in a sales roundup by Business Wire of 19 specialty apparel and general merchandise retailers, which found that 13 of the companies had lower sales for August, while one was flat and just five were up.

Among the specialty apparel retailers that did have a good month is Aeropostale (New York), which saw its sales for August increase by 16 percent from the same period in 2008. In a statement, the company said “the strength of its back to school collection, coupled with the successful execution of its pre-planned promotions, led to solid increases in both sales and merchandise margins.”

At the other end of the spectrum was Abercrombie & Fitch (New Albany, Ohio), whose sales woes continued with a 23 percent drop in sales for the month. (Note: the A&F results were not included in the Business Wire tally, as those results were among those released after the news service had compiled it roundup.)

In the general merchandise sector, the biggest winner was Kohl’s (Menomonee Falls, Wis.), up 4 percent from a year earlier, while Target (Minneapolis) eked out a 0.1 percent increase and Costco (Issaquah, Wash.) had results were flat with last year.

In a news release, Kohl’s chairman, president and ceo Kevin Mansell said, “Our August results were driven by improvement across most businesses with accessories being the strongest and women's being the most improved. On a regional basis, the Southeast and South-Central benefited from a later tax-free event this year and were the most improved regions, while the Southwest continued to lead in overall performance with a double-digit comparable store sales increase. We believe this momentum will continue as we open 37 new stores later this month, mostly in former Mervyn’s locations, which will put us in a stronger position to be the retailer of choice in the Southwest region, particularly in California.”

Among those having a down month was Dillard’s (Little Rock, Ark.), with a sales drop of 14 percent. The department store operator did not offer any commentary in the release of its sales results.