NEW YORK–The back-to-school season failed to shake the nation’s major retailers out of their slump.
The department stores continued to be the worst-performing channel, with same-store sales down 7.9 percent for J.C. Penney, off 8.1 percent for Macy’s and down a whopping 12 percent for Dillard’s. Only Kohl’s managed to boost its comparable-store sales by a meager 0.2 percent.
The TJX Cos. managed to boost their same-store sales by 5 percent, but Target posted a 2.9 percent decline. The gas pumps continued to hurt warehouse clubs Costco and BJ’s Wholesale. The former reported a comp-store drop of 4 percent including its gas sales and flat same-store sales without gas, while BJ’s same-store numbers fell 6 percent including gas but rose 2.2 percent without gas.
Although Target experienced a dip in its sales, the August numbers that did come in were ahead of the company’s expectations, according to Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Guest traffic in August was essentially flat to last year, marking a meaningful improvement from second-quarter trends,” Steinhafel said in a Target statement.
For Kohl’s—according to Kevin Mansell, chairman, president and chief executive officer—improvements in accessories and women’s department sales, and strength in checkouts in the Southeast and south-central regions helped fuel the chain’s sales rise.