Same Store Retail Sales Decelerate Sharply

Same store sales were up 2.9 percent year-on-year in the April 7 week, decelerating sharply by 1.5 percentage points from the prior week's strongest of the year pace. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were up 0.3 percent, the second best reading of the year, while the full month year-on-year gain was up 3.4 percent, a tick shy of last week's strongest showing since the end of December. Despite the weakening seen this week, Redbook's same store sample continues to show results robust enough to point to fairly strong ex-auto ex-gas retail sales.