Chain Store Sales Down from Last Year

New York, NY, Dec. 23, 2008--Chain store retail sales fell 0.6 percent compared with last year for the week ending Dec. 20, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs.

The groups also found that around 80 percent of those shoppers planning to spend on gifts have now completed their shopping -- whereas, for the week ending Dec. 13, the completion rate was only 63 percent.

ICSC and Goldman Sachs reported that one third of consumers were buying more gifts this year rather than gift cards, which also helped raise sales figures; chain store sales were up 2.6 percent compared with the previous week.

Michael P. Niemira, ICSC chief economist, said, “Even with this week-over-week pickup,  ICSC Research expects monthly comparable-store sales will be down 1 percent or slightly more for December.”

Online retail sales for the period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 19 fell 1 percent to $24 billion, comScore reported yesterday. The drop in sales was the first for a holiday season since comScore began tracking retail in 2001.