New York, NY, May 24--Chain store retail sales fell in the latest week, but compared with the same year-earlier week were up strongly, a report said on Tuesday.
Sales dipped 0.2 percent for the week ending May 21, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a joint report. But compared with the same week a year ago, sales were up 3.7 percent.
"This past week, sales results were somewhat mixed," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research. "Though the last two weeks we have seen sales pull back a bit, overall sales continue to be holding up and are relatively healthy.
"For May, we expect sales to rise by 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent on a comparable store basis," Niemira added, referring to stores open at least a year.
