REALITY CHECK: US RETAILERS SAY AUGUST SALES WERE VERY BRISK
By Gary Rosenberger
NEW YORK (MktNews) - U.S. retailers say August sales were very brisk, at times the equal of a Christmas rush, as the back-to-school season got off to an unusually strong and early start this year.
Retailers say the biggest drivers during the month were consumer electronics and apparel. Tax-free shopping days in Texas and Miami also unleashed a burst of localized spending.
In some parts of the nation, the end of the heatwave also meant fewer shoppers escaping to the cooling recesses of the nation's malls, but the declines were not considered worrisome since all they spelled was a return to normalcy.
"Basically, back-to-school was very strong across the board," said Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman for Taubman's Centers Inc., a national chain of malls based in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
"Many people are talking about upper single-digit increases, and possible double-digit increases in places that were particularly warm," MacDonald said.
She noted that back-to-school shopping began unusually early this year at around the end of July and is likely to continue well into September as students gauge what their peers are wearing.
The reports she got from individual malls across the country showed consistent strength, led by armies of young shoppers readying themselves for another school year.
At the Woodfield mall in Schaumburg, Illinois: "August was the best of the three summer months. On August 7, our parking lots, which have space for over 10,000 cars were 100% occupied -- the first time this has happened during the back-to-school season in the 28-year history of the mall."
The mall reported "big increases" in junior apparel.
Westfarms in Farmington, Connecticut stated that "traffic continues to be strong" as people come to cool off from the summer heat and indulge in back-to-school shopping. The store reported strong apparel business led by cargo pants, carpenter pants, fleece vests and "the Bohemian look."
At Marley Station in Glen Burnie, Maryland, toy sales were strong, especially for Pokemon and the latest generation of Beanie Babies known as Beanie Buddies -- bigger and costlier versions of the cute animal dolls.
Tax-free shopping gave a boost to Memorial City mall in Houston and the Falls in Miami.
At Memorial City, the event was held the first weekend in August and inspired "the largest crowds since Christmas '98."
At the Falls, where the sale took place July 31 to Aug. 8, "all stores reported their best sales ever in August, with department stores Macy's and Bloomingdales the most successful."
Lakeforest in Gaithersburg, Maryland, reported August traffic increased in the "upper single digits" versus a year ago. Kids "are extremely brand conscious and that's helping Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. But "parents are also in a buying mood" -- shopping for themselves as they accompany their children.
"Dorm rooms seem more well-appointed than ever," the mall's general manager observed.
The tax-free shopping that boosted sales in other parts of the country inadvertently led to a late-August lull as shoppers anticipated an upcoming tax-free week that begins Wednesday, said John Mott, a spokesman for Palisade Center, a megamall in West Nyack, New York.
Also hurting end-of-month shopping was the first mild and sunny weekend in many weeks, sending people outdoors to enjoy what was left of summer, Mott said.
Still, when times were good earlier in the month, they were very good indeed, he said.
"The first two weekends in August, we literally had holiday-type traffic numbers," Mott said.
"Weather contributes a swing of 15% to 20% to our traffic numbers, easily," Mott said.
Mott said some combination of heat and rain early in August lured people for shopping, movie going and eating out. "Having entertainment mixed in with retail makes us a destination -- it's amazing to see how many people come out of the theaters carrying shopping bags," he said.
The biggest prize for the back-to-school season goes to vendors of consumer electronics, said Robin Lanier, vice president of marketing for the International Mass Retailers Association, which represents huge discounters.
"A lot of colleges now require students to show up with laptops and personal computers," Lanier said. A survey conducted by the association indicated that consumer electronics were the fast-growing category on students' shopping lists.
Lanier noted that her own recent experiences at an outlet mall in western Maryland indicate back-to-school sales for apparel were also "very brisk." She noted one instance in which an overwhelming crowd of back-to-school shoppers virtually paralyzed the staff of one store.
Lanier said the stores that will do best are those that have "beefed up" their juniors departments.
"The people hanging out in the mall are basically kids," she said.
"In fact, all selling seasons are basically about young people, and the retailers that have their pulse on what kids want are doing exceptionally well," she said, citing Old Navy, Tommy Hilfiger, American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie and Fitch as prime examples.
Debbie Koopman, a spokeswoman for Eddie Bauer stores as well as the Spiegel and Newport News catalogs, noted that reports she has received from various divisions show all is well.
"We have seen no shift in consumer sentiment for the month, our trends continue to be positive," she said.
Carol Sanger, a spokeswoman for Federated Department Stores, argues that the real surge of back to school probably won't be felt until September.
"Back to school probably will have more of an impact on September sales since kids seem more inclined these days to wait until they get back to scope out what all of the 'cool' kids are wearing before buying their own stuff," she said.
August, of course, was not uniformly fantastic for everyone.
J.C. Penney, the nation's largest apparel retailer, continues to seesaw -- and this was not one of its better months, said spokesman Duncan Muir.
"Back-to-school was a little soft -- but there are still a lot of changes going on with J.C. Penney that have to be worked out," he said.
August chain store sales are scheduled to be released Thursday. The Commerce Department is to release August retail data on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. July was up 0.7% after June's 0.2% drop.
Editor's Note: Reality Check stories survey sentiment among business people and their trade associations. They are intended to complement and anticipate economic data and to provide a sounding into specific sectors of the U.S. economy. |
