Same Store Retail Sales Decelerate, Still Strong Pace

Same store sales were up 4.5 percent year-on-year in the August 11 week, decelerating by 1.1 percentage points from the prior week's pace, which was the strongest since December. After last week's outsized 0.9 percent gain, month-to-date sales versus the prior month slowed by 0.8 percentage points to 0.1 percent. Redbook's same store year-on-year sales readings can be volatile week to week, but July and August saw the strongest gains so far this year, albeit followed by sharp pullbacks, pointing to a moderately rising yet fluctuating acceleration in ex-auto ex-gas retail sales.