Chain Store Sales Increase 4.6%

New York, NY, April 20, 2010--Weekly chain store sales increased 4.6% on a comparable store basis, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs.

The week-to-week sales comparisons though remained flat.

“Helped by seasonably warm temperatures for the week, customer traffic—especially at department and apparel-specialty stores—improved over the same week of the prior year,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC director of research and chief economist.

“However, with about 4 to 5 percentage points of March’s monthly sales lift due to the Easter calendar shift, the April ‘echo’ will depress store sales somewhat.  As a result ICSC Research continues to expect that April sales will be flat to down 3 percent,” Niemira added.