Sales

Cecelia P. Bucci, a longtime department store sales associate and avid gardener, died of congestive heart failure Friday at Bradford Oaks Rehabilitation Center in Clinton. She had celebrated her 100th birthday last month. Cecelia Presutti, daughter of a Pennsylvania Railroad foreman and a homemaker who were immigrants from Sulmona, Italy, was born in Washington, where her parents owned and operated a grocery store. She later moved with her family to a Prince George's County farm.

Joppa-based Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. announced that sales forthe four-week period ending Dec. 1 increased approximately 19 percent to $58.9 million from $49.6 million in the comparable calendar weeks in Novembaer 1989.Same store sales in comparable calendar weeksincreased 11 percent.Total sales for the 43-week period ending Dec. 1, 1990increased 38 percent to $466.3 million from $338.0 million in the corresponding period a year ago. Same store sales for the 43-week period increased approximately 26 percent.

DETROIT - When automakers report monthly sales results today, the numbers are likely to show more evidence of a fundamental purchasing shift among U.S. consumers who are abandoning profit-generating pickups, SUVs and luxury vehicles in favor of fuel-efficient cars, including gas-electric hybrids. Sales are believed to have declined in May - led by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC - along the way to the worst auto sales year in more than a decade. But even more important for the U.S. auto industry is the sea change in buying patterns.

DETROIT -- Sales of domestically built cars and light trucks dropped 10 percent in May from a year earlier, but on a seasonally adjusted basis car sales alone were slightly stronger than in the previous month, leading to some hope that the automotive recession may have bottomed out.Car sales, a barometer of economic health, are being closely watched for signs that a recovery may be under way. But statistics from a single 10-day period or just one month are...

Toyota Motor Corp. reported an increase in U.S. auto sales in October as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. posted declines, accelerating the Japanese company's push to become the world's largest carmaker. Toyota, the world's No. 2 automaker by sales behind GM, said yesterday that U.S. consumers bought 1.3 percent more of its cars and trucks in October compared with a year earlier. GM said its U.S. sales fell 22.7 percent in October from a year ago. Ford reported sales down 23 percent.

Maryland's long-running new-car sales boom continued last month, but at a considerably slower pace than it started the year.According to figures compiled by the Motor Vehicle Administration, new-car and truck sales rose 8.6 percent last month, compared with the same period a year ago.While last month's increase kept intact a 21-month string of higher sales, it was far off the almost 30 percent jump recorded in January.For the country as a whole, sales of new cars and light trucks were off 4.2 percent last month.

Still suffering from intense competition, Hechinger Co.'s sales dropped more last month than any so far this year.The Largo-based home improvement chain said yesterday that October sales fell by 7.2 percent for all stores, and 9.6 percent for stores that have been open more than a year -- a key barometer of performance -- compared with the same month last year.Richard S. Gross, the company's controller, attributed some of the decline to Hechinger's decision to extend an annual kitchen and sales promotion into November.

Sales of existing homes in the metropolitan area continued to lag in December, as a 33 percent drop in the number of homes sold in Baltimore led a 26 percent regional decline, according to a report by the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.Prices remained stable in December, with an average of $117,294. Both the number of sales and the average price are compared to December 1989.The drop in regionwide sales was slightly smaller than it has been in recent months; sales fell 30 percent in October and 29 percent in November.

Sales of new and existing homes in metropolitan Baltimore continued a seven-month slide in January, but the number of contract signings rose for the first time since March, the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors said yesterday.Home sales dipped 24 percent, from 1,232 in January 1994 to 941 last month, the board said. The number of sales awaiting settlement climbed 13 percent, to 1,205 from 1,071 the previous January. And the average price of a home last month rose 7 percent to $138,380 from a year ago, the figures showed.

Sales of new and previously owned homes in metropolitan Baltimore fell 3 percent in August, continuing a slump of more than a year, the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors said yesterday.Sales slipped to 1,756 in Baltimore and in Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, down from 1,807 last August, the board said.But sales agents and brokers are predicting a brisk fall market, based on increased interest in home buying this month and a 32 percent jump in the number of contracts signed in August.