Same Store Retail Sales Accelerate

Same store sales were up 6.5 percent year-on-year in the October 6 week, accelerating by 0.8 percentage points from the prior week to match the September 1 week for the fastest annual growth pace in over 13 years. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were up 0.4 percent, 0.1 percentage points stronger than in the prior week. The full month year-on-year gain also rose by 0.1 percentage points from the prior week, to 5.9 percent, still short of the September 8 week 6.3 percent high for the reading this year. Redbook's same store sales started the fourth quarter with acceleration from the robust strength seen at the end of the last quarter, pointing to surging strength in ex-auto ex-gas retail sales.