The results are led by stronger-than-average results at food, drug and mass retailers, but apparel and accessory stores and department stores lagged, but posted the most improved growth.
The sales-weighted composite was 5.7 percent, higher than the 5.1 percent same-store sales gain last month and the 2.8 percent gain in September of last year.
Tandy Leather Factory posted the biggest increase in retail sales at 14 percent, followed by Costco at 12 percent, and Limited Brands at 11 percent.
The biggest decliner was Gap with a decrease of 4.0 percent, according to Kantar Retail.
“The resiliency of shoppers in September, especially at apparel and department stores, partly reflects unavoidable back-to-school purchases amid higher apparel prices," says Doug Hermanson, economist at Kantar Retail. "At the same time, sales are holding up as shoppers’ spending intentions fall off much less dramatically than the steep falloff in consumer confidence.”
For a list of the retailers reporting and their results, please follow this link: http://www.kantarretail.com/pressroom/samestr_sales.pdf.
