WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the commentary from the
ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Tuesday:
With the official arrival of spring on Saturday consumers were
motivated to shop giving retailers a bounce back from last week’s slight
sales decline. Overall, according to the International Council of
Shopping Centers, Inc. (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) index, weekly
retail sales for the week ending March 20 improved by 0.1 percent. In
addition, on a year-over-year basis, sales improved and grew by 3.7
percent – the strongest since April 7, 2007 (+4.0%).
“Last week’s mild weather on both coasts gave consumers ‘spring
fever’ and a reason to release some more of their pent-up demand which
has been an underlying force over the last few weeks,” said Michael
Niemira, ICSC director of research and chief economist. “With the
earlier Easter just two weeks away the current uptick for the month of
March should continue and as a result ICSC Research expects March sales
will increase by 3.0 to 3.5 percent,” Niemira added.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MAUDS$,M$U$$]
