Same Store Retail Sales Accelerate

Same store sales were up 3.8 percent year-on-year in the January 20 week, a 1.2 percentage point acceleration from the prior week and the strongest pace of the new year. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were unchanged while the full month year-on-year gain rose 0.3 percentage points to 3.3 percent. After two weeks of deceleration from exceptional strength at year end, when the year-on-year sales gain reached the highest level in over 3 years, the strong rebound in Redbook's same store sales this week points to moderate strength in ex-auto ex-gas retail sales in January.