November gets started with 3.1% comp gain

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/8/2011 2:02:47 PM

New York - Same-store sales rose 3.1% in the first week of November, according to The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index.

The week ended Nov. 5 included last-minute, Halloween merchandise shopping, which helped boost customer traffic and sales across a range of cold weather apparel categories and basic consumables early in the week, noted Catlin Levis, Redbook analyst.

She noted many retailers stepped up holiday season advertising and promotions during the week.

As tracked by Redbook, the retail month of November ends with the official beginning of the holiday season starting on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, which falls in the final week.

"November is typically a transitional month where retailers often clear unsold fall merchandise and prepare for the holiday season," Levis said. "More importantly, the month is significantly back-end loaded with most business contributed in the last two days following Thanksgiving."