NEW YORK - Chain store sales grew 0.2% in the week ended June 30, according the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Tuesday.
Year-over-year, retail sales slowed to a 1.4% increase.
"Weather took a bite out of sales with some 2.5 million people without power late in the sales week as severe storms affected the consumers' ability to shop," said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. "As a result of the late month weakness, ICSC has trimmed its forecast for the monthly sales performance of the industry to between 1.0% and 1.5% year-over-year growth and, excluding drug stores, sales are expected to increase by between 2.5% and 3.3% for June when retailers report their monthly results this Thursday, July 5, 2012," Niemira added.
