NEW YORK-Recovering from a weak November, the major retail chains tracked monthly by HFN posted solid gains in same-store sales last month.
Leading the way was Pier 1 Imports, which doesn’t regularly report its monthly results but which rang the bell with a gain of 8.2 percent in December same-store sales. Costco was a close second with a pickup of 8 percent, followed by The TJX Cos. with a combined 6 percent gain from the chains under its corporate umbrella, and Ross Stores also with an increase of 6 percent.
Macy’s reported a gain of 4.1 percent in December, and Kohl’s same-store sales rose 3.4 percent. The only laggard among the chains HFN tracks was Target, whose same-store sales were flat last month.
Strong traffic in the stores was a major factor in the turnaround in same-store sales. Alex Smith, president and CEO of Pier 1, said, “We experienced momentum in sales throughout the month, including the days after Christmas, and sales were strong across all geographic regions of the country.”
Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO of Macy’s, said the company’s same-store result was somewhat weaker than it had expected, but that Macy’s had faced “some significant headwinds” in the form of the lingering effects of both Hurricane Sandy and consumer uncertainty about the economy as a whole.