Cool weather continues to spur retail sales

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/29/2002 3:05:00 PM

New York — With cooler weather across the nation spurring demand for winter clothing — and home-related goods still going strong — same-store retail sales moved up by 0.7 percent during the third week of October, compared with the same week the month before, according to the Redbook Retail Sales Average.

Sales cooled off somewhat from the faster pace of the week before, when sales rose by 1.4 percent, but even so remained strong, said Redbook analyst Catlin Levis.

For the three weeks month-to-date, sales were up by 1.4 percent from September, easily besting a target of a 0.6 percent gain. Compared with October 2001, month-to-date sales increased by 0.9 percent, sailing past a target of a 0.1 percent increase.

Though sales pulled back somewhat during the third week of the month, "the tone of business remains firm and October continues to outpace September," Levis observed.