NEW YORK – U.S. retail sales at discount, chain and department stores rose in the first three retail weeks of April as consumers snapped up food and common household goods, Instinet Research reported in its weekly Redbook Retail Sales Average on Tuesday.
The Redbook Average rose 0.9 percent during the first three retail weeks in April compared with the same period in March, with most retailers just meeting their sales targets or just missing them. Redbook's target is for a 1.0 percent rise.
Warm April weather, after an unusually cool March, helped seasonal clothing, appliances and home-related business sales maintain their category leads, Redbook said.
The Redbook Retail Sales Average is a sales-weighted average of annual growth in the same-store sales at discount, department and chain stores which report their results on a weekly basis. The average is compiled from a sample of general merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 stores. Same store sales gauge revenues from stores open at least one year.
The Redbook report is released weekly by Instinet Research, a division of Instinet, an electronic brokerage owned by Reuters.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox