ECONOMY : Unseasonably Cool Weather Chills Store Sales in May : Retail: But some bright spots in last month’s report persuade analysts that Americans are slowly regaining the urge to shop.

Lingering cold weather chilled business for many of the nation’s largest retailers last month, although industry analysts said Thursday that they still detected signs that consumers are gradually regaining the urge to shop.

“The retailers spent all month long crying about the weather, and that was the bottom line,” Janney Montgomery Scott Inc. analyst Terence McEvoy said after store owners released sales results for the month.

Sales paled in comparison with a year earlier, when hot weather gave retailers their best month of a largely dismal 1991. “Last year, May weather was absolutely terrific, and this year it was horrible,” McEvoy said.

Apparel stores were especially hard hit by last month’s colder weather. Sales at Gap Inc., Limited Inc. and many smaller clothing chains were disappointing.

Kmart Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co. reported lackluster results because of stagnant sales of lawn and garden equipment and air conditioners.

With the colder weather, shoppers would just as soon not spend on items they do not require. “The consumer only is buying at the time they need something,” said Walter Loeb, a retailing analyst and consultant.

But there were bright signs in last month’s reports. Dayton Hudson Corp., which has struggled because of the weak economy in California, home for many of its Target discount stores, said sales rebounded nicely last month. Sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the leading retailer, continued to outstrip the rest of the industry.

Retail sales have slowly gained since hitting bottom in December as consumer confidence and the economy have picked up some momentum, an important sign of a broader economic revival.

Jeffrey Edelman, an analyst with C. J. Lawrence Inc., said: “Sales are starting to show some improvement. The recovery is proceeding very slowly. The customer’s out there.”

Kmart said sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.8%, while overall sales increased 6.7%. While the weather nipped into Kmart discount store results, the company’s specialty stores turned in strong sales.

Stores open at least a year--also known as same-store or comparable-store sales--are believed to provide a more accurate assessment of a retailer’s performance than overall sales. New stores tend to have extraordinarily strong sales that can distort a retailer’s results.