Same Store Retail Sales Growth Rate Slows

Same store sales were up 5.5 percent year-on-year in the October 20 week, with the growth pace slowing by another 0.3 percentage points after the prior week's 0.7 percentage point pullback from the highest growth rate in over 13 years. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were unchanged, a slowdown of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week, while the full month year-on-year gain fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.6 percent. Despite posting 2 consecutive weeks of moderate deceleration, Redbook's same store sales growth remains the strongest in more than decade and points to robust ex-auto ex-gas retail sales.