Chain Store Sales Improve Week of Sept. 26

New York, NY, Sept. 29, 2009--Weekly chain store sales in the U.S. rose almost a full 1 percent from one year ago for the week ending Sept. 26.

Consumer foot traffic increased, which helped to boost comparable store sales slightly for a third consecutive week, according to the weekly measurement by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs.

Michael P. Niemira, ICSC chief economist, said, “As the industry heads into the last sales week for the fiscal month of September, ICSC Research continues to expect industry sales--excluding Wal-Mart--for September will be down about 2 percent from its year-ago level as September’s performance will be helped by a shift in the calendar, which boosted the early month sales gains.”