US DATA: wk 21-Jan Redbook Average: “The extended Martin Luther
King Jr holiday at the beginning of the week offered additional
opportunities to clear remaining winter inventories, but did not appear
to contribute much additional sales momentum. Meanwhile, winter storms
toward end of the week, particularly in the pacific northwest and
northeast regions, kept people at home and thinned out store traffic.
The cold weather, however, had a mixed effect since it also encouraged
shoppers to purchase winter apparel since most winter inventory is on
clearance. This type of business did not necessarily translate into
higher margins, but it did momentarily improve sales performance.”
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Year-over-year: Week (w/e 01/21/12 vs year-ago) 2.5%
Year-over-year: Month (January 2012 vs January 2011) 2.9%
Month-over-month: (January 2012 vs December 2011) -1.6%