Retailers

The nation's retailers posted highly variable June sales yesterday, giving no clear signal about the direction of the economy.Overall, the results appeared to be stronger than those for May, a difficult month for the industry, said Budd Bugatch, research director at Ferris Baker Watts in Baltimore. "I'm not going to say the boom is here, but I think this is more positive," he said.In some ways, it was a strange month in retailing, one in which "tortoises" such as Hechinger Co. and Caldor outpaced the giant "hare" of the industry, Wal-Mart Stores.

An early Easter this year brought consumers out of hiding as U.S. retailers reported that sales bounded up sprightly in March, according to monthly figures reported across the nation yesterday.Consumer spending in March was driven not only by Easter, but also by the coming of spring, a rite of passage in shopping for lawn chairs, T-shirts and other seasonal goods, which boosted sales at department stores and apparel retailers.March represented the second consecutive healthy month in retail after an anemic Christmas season, but whether a major upturn is in the offing remains uncertain, analysts said.

The American consumers' post-election party ended last month with a hangover for retailers.February sales reported by major retailers yesterday looked terrible. They were so bad that mighty Wal-Mart Stores, which routinely reports double-digit gains in stores that have been open a year or more, posted a big goose egg last month.Even at that, the nation's No. 1 retailer was fortunate. Many retailers posted negative numbers.The consolation was that February is a relatively insignificant month in the retail calendar.

Baltimore-area retailers are hoping freedom will ring the cash registers this Independence Day weekend.Recent economic surveys have shown that consumer confidence is up and local economists said last week that the recession is over in Maryland.So far, area merchants say they haven't seen such an upturn, but they're hopeful this weekend will bring lots of shoppers as proof of what they've been hearing from economists."The newspapers say consumers are showing more confidence, but I don't see it in the sales.

It wasn't the ravenous crowd of the 1980s, with shoppers pawing over merchandise and pulling out plastic to pay for everything from laughing golf balls to Fendi pocketbooks. But it certainly was no ghost town either.The packed parking lots and lines of people that curled from money machines at area malls yesterday said two things: Not only were people out in respectable numbers, but they were doing some buying too.Both gave a boost to retailers who have been prepping themselves for a less-than-merry Christmas season, although still hoping for the best.

NEW YORK -- As technology shrinks the planet and emerging economies make up more of the global market, the nation's retailers need to look outside the United States for growth. But U.S. retailers are behind their international counterparts in going global, researchers said this week at a national conference of retailers. "Domestic opportunities are going to top out," said Phillip H. Kowalczyk, national director of strategy services for Kurt Salmon Associates. "Ignoring globalization is like turning a blind eye to the Internet.

As a government report showed yesterday that sales at the nation's retailers plunged to record lows in October, employees at Lauman's Home Furnishings in Perry Hall prepared to shut down for good. Sales at the 27-year-old furniture store on Belair Road slowed during the past year after customers lost jobs, were turned down for credit or put off buying new sofas, chairs and other furnishings amid the housing slump. But in the past two months, "It just really went beyond slow, and what else do you do?"

Three of the leading names in U.S. retailing have agreed to set up shop in Bell Atlantic Corp.'s electronic shopping mall, the regional phone company said yesterday.Lands' End, Nordstrom and J. C. Penney will participate in a market trial of Bell Atlantic's planned video-on-demand service, called Stargazer, the company said. The trial will be the first test in this region of how consumers react to a service that brings television programming to the home over the telephone network.Larry Plumb, a spokesman for Bell Atlantic Video Services in Reston, Va., said the 1,000-home test in Northern Virginia could begin this winter if the Federal Communications Commission approves it in time.

LAS VEGAS -- Several national retailers have expressed strong interest in becoming tenants at the proposed Power Plant entertainment complex, a hopeful sign for the future $18 million redevelopment project in downtown Baltimore.Although executives of Cordish Co. are not prepared to announce definitive agreements, they are in talks this week with potential tenants gathered at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas."We are heavy into the leasing process, and the response has been almost overwhelming," said Blake L. Cordish, vice president of the Baltimore-based company that has earned a reputation for turning around failed projects across the country.

Maryland retailers waved goodbye yesterday to 1991, an old acquaintance many would rather forget. They greeted 1992 with wary optimism and a daunting realization that competition here will become more intense than ever this year.For most, 1991's holiday shopping season was a disappointment. For some it was clearly a debacle. But optimism springs eternal in the mercantile heart, and most retailers expect a midyear economic rebound to bring better sales and a merrier Christmas season in 1992.