Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993 TAG: 9308060137
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Sears, for example, posted a comparable-store sales increase of 15.4 percent that retailers said was aided by demand for repairs and services affected by the flood. Comparable-store sales are a measure of units operating for at least a year, removing the usually high sales generally associated with store openings.
"Like a lot of natural disasters, the net impact of the flood was not a big negative and may have been a plus," said David Kelly, consumer analyst at the Boston Co. in Boston.
However, he said, "what really stands out [about the reports] is how variable they are."
Although Sears results may have been helped by the weather, which also kindled sales of air conditioners in the South, and Wal-Mart sales rose 9 percent, other major retailers reported relatively weak results.
JC Penney sales were down 3.1 percent from a year ago. Kelly said Penney's suffered from a lack of promotions, which were shifted from July 1992 to August this year. The retailer "should do better next month," he said.
Ray Stone, directing manager of Stone & McCarthy in Princeton, N.J., said his index of sales at 13 department stores rose 5.8 percent in July, down from an increase of 6.1 percent in June.
Stone predicted the Commerce Department's report on July retail sales, set for release next Thursday, would be up 0.5 percent. June sales were up 0.4 percent.
Although consumers still are spending, overall sales have weakened from the second quarter, said Sandra Shaber, a senior economic adviser at the WEFA Group in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
But first-quarter spending had rebounded from "the storm of the century," she said, and could not have continued at that pace.
Uncertainty over possible tax increases also may be affecting retail sales, but Shaber played down that impact.
"It's very clear that consumers are willing to spend anything in their paychecks," she said. But she noted pockets of weakness, such as apparel.
For nondurables, such as clothing, to remain strong, "everybody has to be out there spending," but they're not, which may indicate some "problems lurking" in the economy, said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Nikko Securities International in New York.
The Limited said its comparable-store sales were up 8 percent in July, but Cooper said the gain was a result of discounting that would depress the retailer's quarterly earnings performance.
Cooper said there were rumblings that sales of some hard goods, such as furniture, may be slowing.
While big stores, such as Sears, "turned things around and posted a really strong July, the weak got weaker" as they struggled to pull in sales amid widespread seasonal discounting by their competitors, Brusca said.
Among retailers operating in Western Virginia:
Charming Shoppes Inc., which owns Fashion Bug stores, reported sales up 2 percent to $86 million in July. Sales for comparable stores decreased 6 percent.
Circuit City Stores Inc. reported sales of $308.2 million, up 26 percent, with a 7 percent increase in comparable-store sales.
Heilig-Meyers Co. had a 30.3 percent gain, to $57.8 million. Comparable-store sales rose 10 percent.
Hechinger Co. reported sales of $165.4 million, up 10 percent. Comparable-store sales rose 6 percent.
Kmart Corp. had a gain of 12.6 percent to $3 billion. Comparable-store sales in the U.S. division rose 6.5 percent.
May Department Stores Co., which owns Hecht's and Payless ShoeSource, reported sales of $695.4 million, up 8.4 percent. Comparable-store sales were up 6 percent. Sales for Payless ShoeSource were $138.7 million, up 10.3 percent overall and 10 percent for comparable stores.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported sales $5.4 billion, up 26 percent. Same-store sales increased 9 percent. The company's Sam's Clubs had sales of $1.2 billion, up 22 percent; same-club sales decreased 1 percent.
Woolworth Corp.'s sales fell 1.7 percent to $695 million from $707 million. Domestic comparable-store sales fell 3.3 percent.
Staff writer Sandra Brown Kelly contributed to this story.
by CNB