Given the enormous importance of this year's holiday shopping season, I'll be posting retailer-by-retailer results on the blog today.
ICSC's report is up and available for download (if you're an ICSC member). ICSC puts the same-store sales gain for December at 0.9 percent compared with last year based on its index of stores. (Last year same-store sales in December rose 3.3 percent over the prior year.) That makes it the weakest December since 2000 when same-store sales grew 0.7 percent. For the November/December period combined the picture looks better. ICSC is estimating that same-store sales rose 2.2 percent. That's the worst figure since 2002, but isn't so far off last year's gain of 2.9 percent.
Looking at things on a retailer-by-retailer basis, here's how things are shaking out. It gets a bit confusing because not every retailer is comparing to the same five-week period from a week ago. Some are including the first week in January in both years. Others are comparing the period ending January 5 this year to one ending December 30 last year. I've broken the data into two charts reflecting that. Also, some retailers are reporting nine-week rather than five-week figures. And lastly, some are reporting figures on a quarterly basis. For companies with multiple brands (like Gap, Charming Shoppes, TJX and others), I used the consolidated figures for the entire company rather than list all the chains separately.
These retailers reported sales for the five-week period ending January 5, 2008 compared with the five-week period ending January 6, 2007.
| Retailer | Same-Store Sales |
|---|---|
| The Buckle | +18.7% |
| Pier 1 Imports | +7.5% |
| Costco | +7.0% |
| Ross Stores | +3.0% |
| BJ's Wholesale Club | +3.0% |
| TJX Cos. | +3.0% |
| Wal-Mart | +2.4%* |
| Abercrombie & Fitch | -2.0% |
| Family Dollar | -0.7% |
| Pacific Sunwear | -2.8% |
| Nordstrom | -4.0% |
| Stein Mart | -5.7% |
| Gap Inc. | -6.0% |
| Mothers Work | -7.6% |
| Limited | -8.0% |
| Ann Taylor | -9.4% |
| The Bon-Ton Stores | -11.3% |
| Circuit City | -11.4% |
| Chico's FAS | -13.7% |
(Wal-Mart's periods end Jan. 5, 2007 and Jan. 4, 2008.)
These retailers reported sales for the five-week period ending January 5, 2008 compared with the five-week period ending Dec. 30, 2006.
| Retailer | Same-Store Sales |
|---|---|
| Aéropostale | +12.2% |
| JoS. A Bank Clothiers | +2.0% |
| Saks | +0.8% |
| The West Seal | +0.6% |
| American Eagle | -2.0% |
| Nordstrom | -4.0% |
| Target | -5.0% |
| Dillard's | -5.0% |
| Stage Stores | -7.1% |
| Wilsons The Leather Experts | -7.1% |
| J.C. Penney | -7.5% |
| Macy's | -7.9% |
| Cato | -8.0% |
| Ann Taylor | -11.4% |
| Kohl's Corp. | -11.4% |
| Gottschalks | -13.8% |
Some retailers reported figures for longer periods.
For nine-week periods ending January 5.
| Retailer | Same-Store Sales |
|---|---|
| GameStop | +20.0% |
| Toys 'R' Us | +3.1% |
| Barnes & Noble | -0.4% |
| Bakers Footwear | -5.9% |
| Charming Shoppes | -7.0% |
For the most recently completed quarter.
| Retailer | Same-Store Sales |
|---|---|
| Eddie Bauer | +4.8% (Q ending 12/29) |
| Big 5 Sporting Goods | -4.7% (Q ending 12/30) |
| Tuesday Morning | -7.6% (Q ending 12/31) |
| bebe stores | -7.9% (Q ending 1/5) |
Other.
| Retailer | Same-Store Sales |
|---|---|
| Neiman Marcus | +2.9% (Revenues; 5-weeks ending 12/29/07 vs. 12/30/06) |
| Ulta | +4.6% (Six-week period from 11/18/07 to 12/29/07) |
| Finlay Enterprises | -5.9% (Nov. & Dec. combined) |
| Zale Corp. | -9.0% (Nov. & Dec. combined) |