Sperry Van Ness

U.S. chain store sales fell 0.1 percent in February, ICSC index says

U.S. chain store sales for February 2009 were down 0.1 percent on a year-over-year same-store basis, according to ICSC’s index.

“Although Wal-Mart may have been the poster child of February’s relatively better-than-expected industry sales performance, there was a slightly broader industry improvement for the month,” said Michael P. Niemira, ICSC chief economist and director of research. “Moreover, the last four months show an increasingly less negative performance for the industry — which is an encouraging sign and one that ultimately will form a foundation for stronger sales performance later in the year,” he added. For March, ICSC Research expects comparable store sales to be down 1percent to flat on a year-over-year basis.