Winter weather boosts retail sales

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Retail sales rebounded during January, after a disappointing December, as consumers redeemed holiday gift cards and went shopping for warm clothing to counter the drop in temperatures.

Retailers such as Federated Department Stores Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. reported increased sales for January, beating Wall Street expectations. Overall, retail sales rose 3.9 percent last month, according to aggregate figures from Thomson Financial. Analysts had predicted an increase of 3.1 percent.

“I think overall the cooler weather helped the retailers,” said Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation. “They’ve been waiting for this weather throughout the holiday season. They just got it shortly after.”

Local consumer behavior mirrored much of the nation, said Lynn Blacker, marketing manager for Tysons Corner Center.

While the mall doesn’t track overall sales, “it looks like we had a really strong January,” Blacker said. “There was lots of traffic and people with shopping bags. That’s always a good sign.”

Federated Department Stores, which recently bought out Hecht’s and converted the stores to Macy’s late last year, had a particularly strong showing in January. The retailer saw an 8.6 percent increase, far outpacing analysts’ 4.6 percent prediction. That number did not include sales at recently converted stores.

In the Washington region, Federated converted several Hecht’s to Macy’s, including one at Tysons Corner Center and one at Metro Center in the District. The company employs 900 people in the District.

January has historically been a throwaway month for retailers that were coming off a holiday sales high, but with the popularity of gift cards this year, January became a critical month. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers had only redeemed about 37 percent of gift cards by the second week in January.

Retailers also benefited from increased consumer confidence in January, with a steady job market and signs that the real estate market might be rebounding.

In Washington, those measurements are even stronger, which should translate into continued strong sales, Krugman said.

“D.C. still compares favorably in those measurements,” Krugman said. “Clearly, Washington is at an advantage in terms of retail.”

But despite the strong showing, some individual retailers saw declines. Popular retailer Ann Taylor reported a 10.2 percent dip and Abercrombie & Fitch declined by 6 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

kwilmeth@dcexaminer.com

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