NY Times reports:
The good news for retailers in September is that sales were the best they have been all year. The bad news is that sales in major retailing categories are merely at 2005 levels.
On Thursday morning, some of the nation’s biggest retail chains posted September sales that were better than previous months, though that was largely because the stores had easier year-over-year comparisons. For the first time this year, retailers were comparing their sales to the abysmal numbers they began posting last fall, when the markets collapsed. Stores also benefited from a calendar shift that pushed Labor Day, as well as the usual back-to-school shopping rush, later in September.
Do these data account for shop closings?
ReplyDeletei don't believe so
ReplyDeleteWell, same store sales may be still OK as such, but to what extent they are representative to total sales?
ReplyDeleteDean Baker has an opinion here:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=10&year=2009&base_name=smoking_the_green_shoots_of_re