Cost co. (COST), which operates membership warehouses, reported comparable store sales of 6%, excluding the effect of gas and foreign. This is 1.5 percentage points higher than analyst estimates of 4.5%. In 2011, same store sales for August were the same 7%.
Target (TGT) had August same store sales of 4.2% as compared to analyst estimates of 3.1%. Last year, there was a gain of 4.1%. The sales were driven by food, followed by beauty and health products.
Overall, same store sales were better than expected, with the apparel retailer performing the best. In July too, apparel retailers had been the best performers. Companies tracked by Thomson Reuters posted same store sales gain of 3.6%, above expectations of 2%. Back to School sales form a big chunk of the third quarter sales.
The sales were well in line with last year's sales gain at most of the retailers. Retailers can now have higher hopes for the holiday season, given the economic uncertainty. For September, the second half of the Back to School period, The International Council of Shopping Centers gave an estimate of 3%-4% same store sales, excluding drugstores.
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