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RAPAPORT... U.S. chain-store sales increased 2.1 percent year on year for the week that ended on March 8, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs. Comparable-store sales improved 1.3 percent compared with the previous week. “Sales received a nice lift over the past week as consumers were more motivated to shop, according to the ICSC-GS consumer tracking survey,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC's vice president of research and chief economist. “Although adverse winter weather continued to play havoc regionally, a bout of extremely warm temperatures in the West (the warmest in more than 23 years, according to Weather Trends International) was favorable for spring seasonal categories.” ICSC Research anticipates that chain-store sales will increase 3 percent in March. The weekly chain-store sales snapshot is produced by ICSC and Goldman Sachs to measure U.S. nominal same-store, or comparable-store, sales while excluding restaurant and vehicle demand. The weekly sales index is presented on an adjusted basis to account for normal seasonal and other data anomalies.
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