Five consecutive weeks of cool weather throughout the United States led to lower-than-expected May sales figures reported by Target Corp. and Sears today. Both retailers were below plan for the month, but Target still managed, through strong sales at Target Stores in the final week of the reporting period, to come out ahead of 2001 numbers.
Minneapolis-based Target’s net retail sales for May increased 11.3% to $2.981 billion from $2.678 billion in May 2001. Comparable-store sales for the chain increased 2.6% from fiscal May 2001.
Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears, Roebuck & Co. was not as lucky. The retailer announced total domestic store revenues for May were $2.3 billion, a 1.5% decrease from May 2001. Comp store revenues decreased 4.4% from 2001. According to the company, its Dealer and Sears Hardware formats posted sales gains, but not enough to offset sales declines at its traditional full-line department stores.
