Retailers Blame Wintry Weather for Chilly Sales Results : Economy: Consumers may be holding out for last-minute deals. Season shaping up as ho-hum.

Winter storms and bitter cold put a chill on retail sales over the weekend as shoppers seem to be holding out for steep markdowns during the last-minute holiday crush, retailers said Monday.

Snow blanketed parts of the Northeast and Midwest and subfreezing temperatures kept many shoppers huddled indoors. Sales were disappointing at several large chains last week, more evidence that business overall will be ho-hum this season.

“The markets where there was severe weather did not perform well,” J.C. Penney Co. spokesman Duncan Muir said.

Dayton Hudson Corp., parent of Target discount stores, said sales last week were weaker than the company had anticipated.

“The items that are selling best are $100 or less,” Dayton Hudson spokeswoman Susan Eich said.

Holiday receipts are not expected to rise as sharply as last year, when sales grew 5% to 7%, experts said.

Consumers may have decided to scale back their holiday budgets this year as credit card bills have mounted, companies have cut employees and income gains have slowed.

“The season started off wobbly, and so far we’ve set into a mediocre Christmas” for retailers, said Isaac Lagnado, a market researcher at Tactical Retail Solutions in New York.

Clothing store chains, already saddled with a backlog of unsold merchandise from the fall, will cut prices even more in the next two weeks, analysts said.

Retailers that blamed the unusually warm fall weather for poor sales in the last two months now say the cold is hurting business.

“In the fall, they were complaining the cold weather hadn’t set in,” said Susan Silverstein of Gruntal & Co. “Now that it’s cold, you hear complaints that the weather is preventing sales.”

For their part, shoppers said they are aware of the problems retailers face, and they are showing no mercy.

“I think the week before Christmas is going to be the best,” said Chris Naper as she left a Chicago Target store where she purchased a Lego building blocks set for her son.

“If people aren’t buying things now, [retailers] are going to get worried” and mark merchandise down more, she said.

In Denver, Sears, Roebuck & Co. salespeople had to restock shelves with down comforters, which were on sale for $79.99. Levi’s bluejeans, on sale for $26.99, also sold well.

Sears spokeswoman Vaneta Rogers said the cold weather “had some effect” on business over the weekend but that sales are still in line with the company’s projections.

Kmart Corp. offered markdowns of 60% on gold necklaces and bracelets, but a sales clerk in Cleveland said there was still plenty of the jewelry on hand Monday.