Retail Sales

Consumers are still holding back on spending, and that uncertainty led to a slowdown in retail sales momentum last week, an index that measures national retail business shows. The index released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs has tracked a mix of positive and negative sales results so far in June. For the week ending June 23, sales grew by just 2.7 percent compared to the same period in 2011. The index measures  sales at stores open at least a year and represents about 40 chain stores but does not include restaurant or automobile sales.

Did you get out and shop in April? Retail sales numbers released today show improving consumer confidence and more spending in stores. The National Retail Federation reported a 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted sales gain from March to April, excluding autos, gas stations and restaurants, and a 3.9 percent gain compared with April 2012. The U.S. Department of Commerce said total retail and food service sales - which do include autos, gas stations and restaurants - grew 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted, month-to-month basis in April and 3.7 percent year-over-year.

Did you get out and shop in April? Retail sales numbers released today show improving consumer confidence and more spending in stores. The National Retail Federation reported a 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted sales gain from March to April, excluding autos, gas stations and restaurants, and a 3.9 percent gain compared with April 2012. The U.S. Department of Commerce said total retail and food service sales - which do include autos, gas stations and restaurants - grew 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted, month-to-month basis in April and 3.7 percent year-over-year.

For the first time in more than a decade, Baltimore sports fans wished for orange more than purple as they made their Christmas lists for Robbie Davis Jr.'s memorabilia shop in Timonium. In the wake of the Orioles' first winning season and first playoff appearance since 1997, interest in the club has remained high throughout the holiday shopping season. "It totally has," said Davis, owner of Robbie's First Base, which has peddled Baltimore memorabilia since 1989. "To the point where Ravens stuff has taken a back seat to it. " From season tickets to apparel to memorabilia, everything Orioles has sold well since the club's startling run ended in Yankee Stadium on Oct. 12. "Things continue to be very strong," Orioles spokesman Greg Bader said.

The nation's retail recovery continued in April, albeit at a more sluggish pace than in recent months. Sales at major chain stores increased 0.5 percent compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 28 retailers. That was below the 1.7 percent increase that analysts had projected. An earlier Easter this year and poor weather in some parts of the country led to weaker sales than in March, when retail sales soared 9.1 percent. Because of the Easter shift, industry experts said that it was important to look at the combined March-April period.

WASHINGTON -- Spending heavily for big-ticket goods, shoppers kicked off the holiday gift-giving season by sending retail sales in November up briskly, a preliminary tabulation by the Commerce Department showed yesterday.Consumers shoved $178.93 billion across counters last month, four-tenths of 1 percent more than in October, despite severe wintry weather that curtailed activity in much of the country toward the end of the month.Although the rise was less than some expected, the Clinton administration and most private analysts expressed satisfaction with it, noting that this was the eighth straight rise in retail spending, a category accounting for one-third of the nation's economic activity.

NEW YORK -- January began with stronger sales for many retailers, giving faint signs of hope that this year's results may improve slightly over a horrendous 1991."

NEW YORK -- Retail sales growth in the week after Thanksgiving fell to 3.1 percent, the slowest rate in four years, as consumers delayed holiday purchases to wait for discounts. A longer shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas contributed to consumers' delays, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and UBS Securities LLC said yesterday. Their survey showed that 25 percent of shoppers finished most of their purchases by Sunday, down from 32 percent the previous two years.

The Maryland Retail Merchants Association released figures yesterday that confirmed what merchants already knew about 1991: Business stank.According to figures compiled by the Census Bureau, Maryland's total retail sales in 1991 were down 1.43 percent from those of 1990. Nationwide retail sales gained 0.94 percent.Maryland's drop was steeper than those of its largest neighbors, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which posted 0.87 percent and 1.33 percent declines, respectively.Tom Saquella, president of the association, said 1991 may have been the worst year for Maryland retailers in recent memory.

WASHINGTON -- Consumers cut spending at retail counters by 1 percent in March, the biggest monthly decline in more than two years, the Commerce Department said yesterday in a report that was considerably weaker than expected.Although the mid-month blizzard that paralyzed much of the Northeast and South was widely acknowledged to have had an adverse impact, government and private analysts said there was little doubt that the poor sales results also suggested a further slackening of economic growth.

With the less-than-stellar second running of the Baltimore Grand Prix this year, when is Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake going to permanently park the notion of moving forward with it? The numbers don't lie. Baltimore Racing Development, the event's original promoter, projected 58,000 hotel rooms would be booked. Oops, they were 21,000 shy of reaching that figure. The promoter also projected that $12 million would be spent on food. In fact, only $3 million, a quarter of that figure, was actually spent.

Holiday sales are expected to rise 3 percent in November and December compared to the last two months of 2011, a trade group for the shopping center industry is forecasting. The expected increase is pegged to an index measuring sales at chain stores open at least a year. The forecast released Tuesday by The International Council of Shopping Centers also calls for slight increases in sales at shopping centers and in sales at stores selling general merchandise, apparel and accessories, furniture and other items.

Bernard J. "B.J. " Land, a Coca-Cola executive and physical fitness buff who coached youth soccer and lacrosse teams, died Monday of a cardiac arrest at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Hunt Valley resident had recently celebrated his 53rd birthday. Family members said that Mr. Land, who was known as "B.J.," had returned Sept. 2 after a long bike ride and suffered a cardiac arrest that was caused by coronary artery disease, which he was unaware that he suffered from. He remained in a coma until his death.

Consumers are still holding back on spending, and that uncertainty led to a slowdown in retail sales momentum last week, an index that measures national retail business shows. The index released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs has tracked a mix of positive and negative sales results so far in June. For the week ending June 23, sales grew by just 2.7 percent compared to the same period in 2011. The index measures  sales at stores open at least a year and represents about 40 chain stores but does not include restaurant or automobile sales.

Baltimore residential real estate broker Bonnie Fleck is no stranger to luxury. "I think it might be because my very first car was an Audi," Fleck said when asked why she chooses luxury cars instead of more utilitarian models. She also wants to give clients a comfortable ride as they drive from home to home, so she leases a new high-end car every few years. On Thursday, she picked up a black sedan at Lexus of Towson, which sold 208 vehicles last month — 60 more than May 2011, said Mike Meagher, the dealership's general manager.

From The Consuming Interests blog: All you big spenders out there are making retailers very happy this holiday season. So much so that the National Retail Federation is raising its sales outlook for the season. The trade group said that it is revising its forecast to 3.3 percent, up from 2.3 percent. Improvement in several economic indicators prompted NRF to issue the better forecast. Stock market gains, recent income growth and savings built up during the recession are all giving consumers better capacity to spend, the group said in a press release.

WASHINGTON -- Reflecting a desultory start to the holiday shopping season, retail sales rose three-tenths of 1 percent in November, to $153.1 billion, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.Such transactions cover a wide variety of outlets from department stores to fast-food restaurants and account for half of all consumer spending and a third of all economic activity.While the percentage gain was a bit more than most analysts expected, this was partly attributed to a downward revision for ,, October, for which sales are now put at $152.

With the emergence of the Internet marketplace, the early years of the 21st century will likely be recognized as the beginning of a radical transformation of the mode of many retail transactions. Not since the advent of mass-produced mail-order catalogs has there been such an altering influence on the fundamental nature of how people shop. Internet retail sales represent less than 10 percent of total annual retail sales figures, but this number is somewhat misleading. This decade, annual online retail sales have skyrocketed from $27 billion in 2000 to $134 billion in 2009.

Howard Wentworth Wheeler Jr., a retired salesman and lacrosse fan, died May 28 of complications from heart and lung failure at his Annapolis home. He was 68. Mr. Wheeler, the son of an architect and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Severna Park. He was a 1959 graduate of the Severn School, where he played varsity lacrosse and football. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also played lacrosse. During the early 1960s, he served in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas, where he earned the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Ribbon and Marksman Badges.