Cary Allington of ActionWatch sent me a core store same-store sales report yesterday for October. The ActionWatch retail panel includes 200 stores. The same-store sales panel includes 100 of those stores that have been in the panel for a year and thus can provide year-over-year comparison data.
Here’s what Cary said:
“October was another difficult month for core shops, but actually was not quite as bad as September. Overall sales were down 12.3% compared to October last year (September 2008 was down 12.5%). Both apparel and hardgoods were down a little less in October than they were in September.
“The only significant category that enjoyed a positive sales increase over last year was male shorts, which were up 2.7%. The positive comps we’ve seen for male shoes every month in 2008 came to an end, with October 2008 sales down 3.7% compared to last year.”
Here’s a chart detailing results for some categories.
