New York, NY, December 12, 2006--Chain store sales rose 3.2% for the week ended Dec. 9, compared to the year-ago period, according to a survey released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers Inc. and UBS Securities LLC.
On a week-over-week basis, sales rose 1%.
"Over this past week, consumers picked up their holiday shopping pace based on very busy consumer traffic," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research. "However, since consumers are still behind on their completion of holiday shopping compared with the same time of last year; we anticipate a very hectic finish to the holiday shopping season and once again, the holiday season will come down to the strength of the last-minute buying."
For December, ICSC expects sales to grow by 2.5% to 3.5%.
