Winter Holidays

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holdings Corp. forecast a fourth-quarter loss and reported declining sales during the crucial holiday period.

Irving, Texas -- Revenues for the two-month 2013 holiday period at Zale Corporation dropped 2% to $556 million from $567 million in the same period the prior year. Zale said the decrease in revenues is primarily due to the net decrease of 91 stores compared to last year and a decline in the Canadian exchange rate, partially offset by 2% overall same-store sales growth including e-commerce sales.

Philadelphia — Franklin Flea’s successful holiday season earned the once-a-week indoor flea market a return booking for April.

Starting back in November, Franklin Flea brought local artisans and vendors together in Center City Philadelphia to showcase handmade, repurposed and antique items as well as an assortment of artisan foods.

Philadelphia – Net sales at Urban Outfitters for the two months ended Dec. 31, 2013, increased to $716 million, or 8% from the same period in the previous year. Same-store retail segment net sales, which include the direct-to-consumer channel, increased 3%.

Same-store retail segment net sales increased 21% at Free People and 11% at Anthropologie and decreased 6% at Urban Outfitters. Wholesale segment net sales increased 21%.

Just a couple of days after news that Barnes & Noble permanently closed its onetime flagship on Fifth Ave. in New York, the company reported a revenue decrease of 6.6% for the nine-week holiday period ending Dec. 28, 2013 in its retail segment.

The decrease over the prior year in the retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, was fueled by a 5.5% decline in comparable sales and store closures. Core comparable bookstore sales, which exclude sales of Nook products, decreased 0.2% as compared to the prior year.

Pittsburgh – Total net revenue for American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. decreased 2% to $882 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to $904 million for the same quarter a year earlier. Consolidated same-store sales decreased 7%, compared to a 5% increase for the comparable period in 2012.

Costco’s sales increased by 6% in the month of December and the first few days of January compared with December 2012.

The Issaquah, Wash.-based company reported sales of $11.53 billion during the five weeks that ended Sunday, compared with $10.87 billion during the same period last year. Comps increased by 5% at the company's U.S. stores.

For the 18 weeks that ended Sunday, sales were $38.33 billion, a 6% increase over the $36.26 billion in sales the company had the year before. Comps in the United States increased by 4%.
 

New York – Barnes & Noble reported decreases in revenue for both its retail and Nook segments during the nine-week 2013 holiday season as compared to the same period in the prior year. The retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, had revenues of $1.1 billion, decreasing 6.6% from the prior year.