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Sales Up in Home Stretch

NEW YORK-Last week, both ICSC and NRF numbers reflected another uptick in holiday shopping.

By Dees Stribling | Updated on December 21, 2004

NEW YORK CITY-Shoppers were in the stores last week, spending more than the week before, according to the latest International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS holiday survey. The ICSC-UBS retail chain store sales index posted a 1.6% rise over the week ending Dec. 18, its second consecutive increase in two weeks. Year-over-year sales also showed improved momentum with a 3.5% increase.

“With just a few days left before Christmas, consumers continued to pick up their holiday shopping and gave retailers another week of positive sales,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC’s chief economist and director of research. “As of Dec. 19, only 31% of consumers had totally completed their gift shopping, which means that some 70% still have a little shopping left before Christmas. Consumers say that they’ve been shopping even later this holiday season than last year, which provides some evidence that this season will have a late-last minute surge. For the holiday season, ICSC continues to expect that sales will grow by 2.5% to 3.0%, on a year-over-year basis,” added Niemira.

Although it’s unclear whether that strengthening in the sales momentum will be sustained through the rest of the season, the later shopping by consumers this year keeps alive the hope that the season will finish on a strong note. According to the survey, some 33% of consumers say they’ve been shopping later this holiday season than last year, and a hefty 53% of consumers aged 18-24 years old and 40% of those aged 25-34 years old also report later shopping.

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