December Sales Show a Trend to Conservative Shopping

Sears, Roebuck & Co. and J.C. Penney were among the big winners of the holiday sales derby, as consumers sought bargains and products for the home, according to December reports released Thursday by major retailers.

Interest in home furnishings and consumer electronics hurt specialty apparel stores, but discounters benefited less from bargain hunting than in recent years, as people were attracted to the broader selections at department stores offering moderate prices.

“December sales show that Americans are becoming extremely frugal and conservative,” said Kurt Barnard, a New York-based retail economist. “Consumers would like to buy nice merchandise but don’t want to spend much. And discounters don’t have the full array of merchandise. Sears and J.C. Penney were the big winners.”

Penney’s same-store sales--revenue from stores open at least 12 months--rose 10% last month compared to December, 1992. Sales at Sears climbed 13.3% for the period.

Many other department store chains--particularly those that rely on apparel sales--saw only moderate increases during the month. For example, St. Louis-based May Department Stores, which operates the Robinsons-May chain, saw an increase of 4.9%.

Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores--owner of Bloomingdale’s and other chains--saw a 4.8% improvement.

The same-store sales increase at Los Angeles-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores--operator of the Broadway--was a modest 2.3%, which was good enough to please David Dworkin, the company’s president.

“The performance was better than our expectations,” Dworkin said. “We were expecting sales to be flat.”

Overall, sales in California were up slightly from the previous December. Other chains prominent in the state, such as Target and Mervyn’s, reported that sales exceeded their low expectations. Sales at Target and Mervyn’s stores in California were up moderately compared to December, 1992, said Ann Barkelew, spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson Corp. Target sales were up 6%, but Mervyn’s, which relies more heavily on apparel sales, saw its same-store sales total fall 4% nationwide.

The Limited, which had a same-store sales decline of 1%, was among the many specialty apparel retailers that struggled in December.

Others that saw declines were Clothestime, down 4%; Ross Stores, 3%, and Ann Taylor, 2.2%.

Low-price discount chains realized small increases. Wal-Mart had a 4% increase and Kmart had a 1.1% rise.

Overall, sales were up an estimated 4% nationwide from December, 1992.