US Apparel Retailers Post Modest October Comp Sales Gains

(RTTNews) - U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported modest sales gains at established stores in October amid the extremely tough retail environment as nervous shoppers held off on discretionary spending due to the federal government shutdown and debt-ceiling crisis. Sales at the fag end of the month was boosted by increased Halloween spending.

The months of September and October are normally a breather between two strong shopping seasons, the back-to-school that began in July and the all-important holiday shopping that starts in November. Retailers normally rake up 40 percent of their annual income in the holiday season.

Looking ahead, the effects of the shutdown could see sales slowdown in the first-half of November. However, sales could pick up towards the end of the month with Thanksgiving holidays, Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday online shopping coming up then.

Sales at established stores or comparable-store sales is a key retail industry performance metric to gauge activity at store locations that have been open for at least a year.

L Brands, Inc. (LTD), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its October comparable store sales increased 8 percent, reflecting strength of its Victoria's Secret Stores. The result topped Street expectations for a 2.2 percent increase. Net sales were $680.5 million, up from $611 million last year.

Teen apparel retailer Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of October increased 2.6 percent. Net sales also grew to 2.8 percent to $86.6 million from last year's $84.2 million.

Meanwhile, value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that October same-store sales grew 3 percent, and total sales also increased 4 percent from last year to $66.7 million.

"October sales benefited from some cooler weather during the month relative to the prior year. However, we continue to expect a difficult sales environment through the fourth quarter" commented John Cato, chairman, president, and CEO of Cato.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 5.4 percent growth in comparable store sales for the month of October. Total monthly sales also grew 6.9 percent to $95 million from the prior-year month.

"Our strong sales continued into October, driven by upgraded designer and national brands, great fashion-forward merchandise and value pricing," CEO Jay Stein stated.

Another specialty retailer of action sports related apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories Zumiez, Inc. (ZUMZ) reported Wednesday that its comparable store sales for October grew 1.2 percent, missing analysts' expectations for a 1.7 percent growth. Total net sales also increased 10.4 percent from last year to $46.3 million.

Meanwhile, young women's chain Wet Seal, Inc. (WTSLA), which reports only quarterly sales results, reported that third-quarter comparable store sales increased 0.8 percent. However, quarterly net sales declined 5.8 percent to $127.7 million from the year-ago quarter.

A report released from the Conference Board on October 29 showed a substantial deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of October, the government shutdown weighing on expectations.

The U.S. consumer confidence index tumbled to its lowest level since April to 71.2 in October from an upwardly revised 80.2 in September. Economists had been expecting the index to fall to 75.0 from the 79.7 originally reported for the previous month.