Chain Store Sales Up 1.0% in Week Ended July 21

Chain store sales rose 1.0% in the week ended July 21, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Tuesday.

Year-over-year basis, retail sales also improved and are up 3.3%.

"Sales improved over the prior week, but continued a choppy and uneven performance across retail categories," said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. "Apparel store traffic, according to the ICSC-GS consumer tracking survey, improved appreciably as cooler weather than last year for the nation as a whole likely helped lift back-to-school categories and shifted the composition of spending towards higher-value apparel," Niemira added.

For the month of July, ICSC Research anticipates that comp-store sales will increase by between 1.0% and 1.5% overall, including drug store sales and 3.0% and 3.5% excluding drug stores.

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