NEW YORK – Retailers continue to deal with consumers’ uneven shopping patterns this past week as weakness was once again seen across retail categories. As a result for the week ending August 17, 2013 weekly sales slipped (1.9%) for a second consecutive week, according to on the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis sales slowed slightly to 2.2%.
“Sales continued a choppy performance with the latest week’s weakness being driven by slower business for discounters and dollar stores, in particular,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. “On the other hand, performance was stronger for specialty stores, electronics stores and grocery stores. The good news is that a bout of cool weather nationally helped to drive back-to-school shopping, but compositional shifts offset much of that benefit,” Niemira added.
For the fiscal month of August ICSC research anticipates that the upward trend will remain in the 4.5–5.0% range.