Same Store Retail Sales Accelerate

Same store sales were up 7.8 percent year-on-year in the December 22 week, accelerating by 0.7 percentage points from the prior week to just a tick below the strongest growth pace in more than 13 years. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were up 0.1 percent, while the full month-year-on-year gain rose 0.4 percentage points to 7.2 percent, the strongest reading of the year. With year-on-year sales gains at 7 percent and above for 4 weeks in a row, Redbook's same store sales are pointing to robust strength in ex-auto ex-gas retail sales during the key year-end holiday season.