Same Store Retail Sales Accelerate

Same store sales were up 3.6 percent year-on-year in the March 24 week, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points from the prior week's growth pace. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were up 0.1 percent, moving into positive territory for the first time in 7 weeks, while the full month year-on-year gain picked up 0.2 percentage points to 3.2 percent, just two ticks short of the strongest reading of the year. With year-on-year sales growth hovering quite steadily above 3 percent for most of the quarter, Redbook's same store sample continues to point to moderately strong ex-auto ex-gas retail sales.