Apparel Stores Top Retail Performers as Easter Gives Sale Lift

Apparel stores, benefiting from a burst of Easter shopping, were again the standouts as several big retailers announced their April sales results today. Clothing is “the key item that’s continuing sales growth,” said Karen Sack, a retail industry analyst with Standard & Poor’s Corp.

Limited Inc., the nation’s largest specialty apparel retailer, posted a 16% gain at stores open at least a year and an 18% overall increase.

Results from stores open a year or longer--known as same- or comparable-store sales--give a more accurate reading of a retailer’s performance. Industry analysts therefore give them more weight than overall sales figures.

Gap Inc., another big apparel retailer, reported its comparable-store sales jumped 25% as overall sales gained 31%.

K mart Corp., the nation’s largest discount chain, recorded a 6.3% comparable-store gain, and a 15.9% rise overall.

Dayton Hudson Corp., whose holdings include Dayton’s and Hudson’s department stores and Target discount stores, said its comparable-stores sales rose 5.5% in April, while overall sales picked up 11.7%.

May Department Stores Co., which owns Lord & Taylor, Foley’s, Filene’s and other chains, said its comparable-store sales rose 8.8% as overall sales improved 14.3%.

Many stores that had somewhat sluggish sales in March fared better in April as consumers shopped for Easter and spring clothing. K mart, for example, suffered a 1.1% drop in comparable-store sales in March.

Calendar shifts--such as Easter falling on a different date from one year to another--can affect retail sales, inflating one month’s figure and detracting from another. The industry tends to consider both months together in assessing how well stores did.

“Specialty and department stores are leading the pack,” Sack said, adding, “Historically it’s been that way over the last couple of years.”

Consumers, burdened by high installment debt, have been wary about making big purchases such as large appliances. Retailers dependent on such “big ticket” items have had sales gains that are lackluster compared to the improvement recorded by apparel stores.

Analysts predict this trend will continue until later this year.

Retail sales are closely watched not only as a gauge of the industry’s health and that of individual companies, but also as an economic barometer. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the gross national product.

Several of the nation’s biggest retailers--including Sears, Roebuck & Co, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Woolworth Corp.--reported their April results a week ago, and they also reflected the split between sales of apparel and more expensive items.