Retail sales sluggish over holiday weekend

Posted 8:18AM on Tuesday 2nd April 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW YORK - Easter holiday retail results turned out to be less than what some businesses had expected, according to preliminary reports. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., bruised by winter storms and unseasonable weather, said Monday that same-store sales for the week ended Friday were below expectations for both its Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs. But it still expects to meet its sales projections for March and for the first quarter. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are the best indicator of a retailer's health. Federated Department Stores Inc. said during a pre-recorded message that same-store sales for the week through Saturday were "not as strong as we had hoped." Therefore, the company, which operates such department stores as Bloomingdale's and Macy's, said that same-store sales for March will be slightly below its bottom end of its range of unchanged to down one percent. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. saw same-store sales at its department stores rebound in the fourth week of March, fueled by shoes, men's, women's and children's apparel businesses. It said it now believes that its department store business will meet the low end of its projections for high single digit gains for March. Penney's catalog business for March is expected to meet its forecast for a 20 percent decline, while its drug business should be up 10 percent. Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report, acknowledged that cooler weather may have dampened Easter sales, but he also maintained that consumer spending continues to be sluggish. "Consumers today are not yet at peace with the notion that the economic recession is over. Layoffs are still continuing and jobs are still hard to get." Wal-Mart said in its pre-recorded call that "Easter sell-through rates weren't as quite as good as the prior year," blaming it on an earlier Easter holiday. Still, it said same-store sales for March should meet its projected increase of 8 to 10 percent. The Wal-Mart store division is expected to post sales gains of 9 to 11 percent for the month, while Sam's Clubs should see a 4 to 5 percent sales increase for March. Wal-Mart still expects first-quarter same-store sales to be at the high end of an expected increase of 5 percent to 7 percent. Wal-Mart added that same-store sales for April should be up in the low single digits. The nation's leading merchants are expected to report March sales results on April 11. Shares of Wal-Mart were down close to 4 percent, or $2.19 a share, to $59.11 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where J.C. Penney's shares were down close to 4 percent, or 81 cents to $19.90. Meanwhile Federated's shared were down 5 percent, or $2.04, to $38.81 on the NYSE.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/196617