New York, September 21--Chain store sales fell in the latest week mostly because the imperfect nature of adjusting for seasonality more so than consumers lack of shopping, a report said on Tuesday.
Sales fell by 1.1 percent in the week ended September 11, compared with a 0.2 percent rise in the previous week, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a joint report. Compared with the same week a year ago, sales accelerated by 3.5 percent, up from the 2.7 percent pace of the preceding week.
"This month we face tough year-over-year comparisons with September 2003, however, we do expect sales to grow by approximately 2.0 percent to 3.0 percent year-over-year rate by month's end," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research.
The ICSC-UBS Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from a group of major discount, department and chain stores across the country that report their weekly results.
