Updated at 11:21 AM
ICSC's report of November same-store sales just hit and the results are not pretty at all (membership required). ICSC hasn't added any commentary yet. The report, for now, is just the figures.
According to the report, same-store sales for the 37 chains in the index fell 2.7 percent. Without Wal-Mart, which posted a 3.0 percent same-store sales gain, same-store sales dropped 7.7 percent. This follows a dismal October, when same-store sales declined 0.9 percent.
Since June--when sales were bolstered by the government stimulus checks--the same-store sales figures have declined each month.
June: 4.2 percent
July: 2.5 percent
August: 1.7 percent
September: 1.0 percent
October: -0.9 percent
November: -2.7 percent
November, by sector:
Apparel: -10.4 percent
Department Stores: -13.3 percent
Discounters: -1.0 percent
Drugstores: -0.6 percent
Wholesale clubs: -2.4 percent
Luxury: -10.5 percent
ICSC's report shows month-by-month sales going back to 1986. This is the first time there are back-to-back monthly declines. The 2.7 percent drop is also the worst figure in that time span. The previous worst was a 1.9 percent decline last April. The figure then, however, was a product of the Easter shift.
With November sales so bleak, a holiday shopping season with negative same-store sales seems like a distinct possibility.
Update: TNS Retail Forward compiles a PDF of the results of 40 publicly held retail companies. That can be viewed here. According to TNS Retail Forward's math, the same-store sales decline for the industry in aggregate was 2.5 percent--a hair better than ICSC's figure.