Same Store Sales

Shoppers nursed a holiday hangover in the first quarter of 2013 as cold weather and a two-week delay in federal tax refunds conspired to keep them out of the malls. The Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index is forecast to show just a 0.7% increase for Q1, significantly below the 3.4% gain registered in Q1 [...]

Spring worked its magic in April as warmer weather brought shoppers back to the malls. An early Easter holiday in late March helped, too. Excluding drug stores, the Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index registered a 5.0% gain for April, compared to the same month a year ago, beating a 4.9% final estimate. That’s the [...]

After a cold winter and chilly early spring, April’s soft breezes nudged retail customers back to the malls. The Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index is expected to post a 4.3% gain for April 2013, stronger than April 2012’s 0.8% result. Excluding the Drug Store sector, the SSS growth rate is projected to be 4.9%, [...]

Not only did cold weather keep diners at home, but when they went out, they didn’t want to spend much. As a result, the Quick Service group is outperforming the somewhat higher-priced Casual Dining restaurants. The Thomson Reuters Restaurant Same Store Sales Index forecasts a sluggish 1.0% SSS increase in Q1 2013, far below the [...]

Few retail analysts were expecting March’s same-store sales gains to measure up to the big advance recorded last year: that 7.1% jump made comparisons very tricky. But the cold weather, among many other factors, put an even bigger chill on sales than expected, and the Thomson Reuters Same-Store Sales Index posted an overall gain of [...]

March was always likely to be a tough month for retailers to post big same-store sales gains, given the magnitude of last year’s advances, but the cold weather dealt another blow to analysts’ forecasts, leaving the Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index likely to post a gain of only 1.8%. Retailers are about to post [...]

Gap is celebrating a great year of a return to financial and fashion health. Now, with the retailer about to post its first negative same-store sales figure in nearly a year, the question is whether it can sustain that success further into 2013. This is one of a series of special reports delving into the [...]

The 1.8% gain in the Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index for February may have been larger than expected, but the numerous factors dampening the willingness of shoppers to open their wallets and spend mean that advance was half that recorded in February 2012. February’s cold weather and winter storms cast a chill over retailers’ [...]

Shoppers, with shrinking disposable income as a result of higher gasoline prices and taxes, proved reluctant to spend heavily in February, analysts say, and the cold weather didn’t help to shift their attention from bargains and the quest for value. Waves of cold weather added to higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices to help persuade [...]

Investors are bracing for some disappointing news from Wal-Mart when it releases its earnings this week, but the real problem may prove to be more than just a fourth-quarter phenomenon: the giant retailer’s core consumers are grappling with shrinking paychecks and more demands on their scarce disposable income. The warnings are in: Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N) [...]