Same-store sales improve, but still low

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/19/2003 2:16:00 PM

New York — Hit hard by winter storms that ripped through most of the eastern seaboard, shutting down roadways and locking consumers out of the malls, same-store retail sales limped up just 0.5 percent during the second week of February, according to the Redbook Retail Sales Average.

But even whacked by the weather, sales improved over the prior week's 0.2 percent decline. For the two weeks month-to-date, sales fell 1.2 percent from the same period in January, far worse than a targeted drop of 0.3 percent. And measured on a year-over-year basis, sales for the two-week period were virtually flat with year-before levels, rising just 0.1 percent above the same period in 2002, well off the target of a 1.1 percent increase.