Stores See Rise in Early September Sales

RETAIL

*

U.S. shopping malls got a little fuller during the first week of September, giving retailers hope that a summer sales lull was behind them, two reports showed.

U.S. consumers, whose spending accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity, snapped up discounted back-to-school clothes and stationery, as retailers--especially department stores--tried to forget a bleak month of August.

Sales at U.S. chain stores rose 0.6% in the first week of September compared with the same period last month, Instinet Research’s Redbook report said.

A separate measure of chain store performance, published jointly by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg, showed a milder 0.1% sales gain after a 0.5% increase a week earlier.

Sales rose a meager 2.3% compared with the same week last year, according to BTM, down from a peak of 4.5% touched in July.