May Sales Send Mixed Signals

The gain is up slightly from the 5.4 percent gain for the combined March–April period.  The result was down from the April’s 8.7 percent same-store sales gain, but much stronger than the 2.7 percent gain in May last year.

Costco and Saks posted the biggest increases in retail sales at 17.2 percent, followed by Zumiez at 15.2 percent, Nordstroms at 12.9 percent and Neiman Marcus and Buckle at 12.7 percent.

The biggest decliner was Destiny Maternity with a decrease of 5.6 percent, according to Kantar Retail.

“Spring storms also affected the retail numbers, but there is little doubt that the strongest headwinds slowing sales are from higher prices for food and especially fuel,” says Frank Badillo, senior economist at Kantar Retail. “Shoppers are stepping up their response as inflation persists and discretionary purchases from apparel to home goods are most

For a list of the retailers reporting, please visit:

http://www.kantarretail.com/pressroom/samestr_sales.pdf