Retail sales increase in September

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(AP)
Gap employees set up displays of jeans at the Gap store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., Aug. 16.

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Jenna Hattenburg knew September sales at the American Apparel store on Baltimore’s Light Street where she is the manager were good, but she didn’t know her store was following a national trend.

“We had a lot of students, especially college students, coming in,” she said Thursday, the same day retailers across the nation began reporting monthly sales results.

But while Hattenburg doesn’t have year-ago numbers to compare (the T-shirt and related products retailer was closed for several months last fall and winter after a water heater broke in an apartment above and flooded the store), she said customers came in droves last month.

“We have an interesting location because there are no other retail stores around,” she said. “We have a destination shop, so people make a special trip to come down.”

Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a Swampscott, Mass., research firm, told media outlets Thursday that of 44 retailers reporting results early, 32 topped analysts’ earnings expectations.

“The back-to-school momentum was strong, weather was really favorable and the big plummet in gasoline prices certainly put more disposable income into consumers’ wallets,” Perkins said.

Stores such as Limited Brands Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Target Corp. and Nordstroms Inc. saw increased sales, while the venerable Wal-Mart Stores Inc. saw disappointing clothing sales.

Wal-Mart, which blamed soaring gas prices for slow sales, didn’t see a benefit from plunging prices at the pump. Sales at stores open for a year posted just a 1.3 percent gain, short of the 2.1 percent mark Wall Street anticipated.

Similar survey results are not available in Maryland, where retail growth is measured by sales-tax collections reported to the state, said Thomas Saquella, president of the Annapolis-based Maryland Retail Association.

Saquella said that while sales-tax figures for September won’t be available until November, some retailers told him that their sectors picked up strongly after the summer doldrums. Sales-tax collection figures for August are expected next week.

He also said the state’s retail association is launching a survey of 70-plus of its approximately 600 members to determine retailer sentiment heading into the holiday season.

Among the questions being asked is whether retailers are optimistic or cautiously optimistic about sales during the holiday, and whether they plan on spending more on advertising to attract shoppers.

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32 days ago: A retirement plan that works for small business

115 days ago: Finksburg looks to improve beyond gateway credit

117 days ago: City opens arms to small businesses

148 days ago: Home Depot drops South City proposal

177 days ago: Economy cools small-business climate

554 days ago: Maryland exports up in 2006, state economic officials say

554 days ago: Coffee lover turns passion into profits

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