New York, NY, July 12--Chain store retail sales were up 0.1 percent in the week ended July 9, compared with a 0.5 percent increase 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 increased to 3.9 percent after a 3.8 percent rise the preceding week.
"After a strong performance in June, sales momentum continued to be healthy this past week, helped in part by pre-hurricane stocking in the Southeast of food and other emergency supplies," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research.
"The one wild card in the mix this month is the potential negative impact from higher gasoline prices, which set a new record for the week ending July 11. Given these factors, July is likely to be strong, but not as strong as June. ICSC expects monthly comp-store sales performance will increase by 4.0 percent to as much as 5.0 percent in July," Niemira added.
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.
