Chain Store Sales Up 3.3% Vs. 2010

New York, NY, March 1, 2011 -- U.S. weekly chain-store sales jumped 3.3% from one year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.

On a week to week comparison, same-store sales slipped 0.5%.

"Sales were choppy during the month with typical weather impacts that tend to get amplified in low volume months—such as February—and a calendar shift in the Presidents’ Day holiday compared with the prior year,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist.

“But overall, the month’s trend performance was good and likely helped by an improving economy, despite some increasing drag from rising gasoline prices.''

ICSC will publish figures for the full month of February on March 3 and the group expects sales gains of between 2.5% to 3%.

In another report by Redbook Research, national chain store sales rose 1.6% in the four weeks of February compared with January.