Seasonal

New York City -- ShopperTrak reported Monday that national retail sales, when compared with the same period last year, rose 3.5% during November and December, while foot traffic decreased 3.1%.

By Jill Puleri, [email protected]

The recently concluded holiday season was a happy one for most retailers, thanks in part to a recovering economy, heightened consumer confidence and no debilitating weekend snowstorms.

Oh, and wide acceptance of technology gadgets and experiences may have helped a bit, too.

New York City -- A report released Monday by the National Retail Federation said that retail industry sales growth for 2012 is forecasted at 3.4%, a pace slower than 2011’s 4.7% growth.

Still, said NRF, the retail industry will grow at a rate faster than many other industries.

Was it a good holiday season or a bad one? Depends who you ask and how results are interpreted as evidenced by conflicting perspectives on U.S. Commerce Department statistics released Thursday morning.

It was widely reported that December sales were a disappointment by media outlets, which cited Commerce Department statistics released Thursday morning showing a rise of 0.1% versus the 0.3% that was widely reported as the expectation of economists.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $400.6 billion.

The December figure is up 0.1% from November, and up 6.5% from December 2010.

Total sales for the October through December 2011 period were up 7.0% from the same period a year ago.

Atlanta -- Home Depot Inc. said Thursday that its spring hiring numbers match last year’s, with plans to bring on 70,000 seasonal workers for the spring season.

Last year, about half of the seasonal workers were hired permanently as cashiers, sales, lot and garden staffers.
 

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. – Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust announced that Charming Charlie will open a new store at Plymouth Meeting Mall, located in suburban Philadelphia.

The new 12,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open spring 2012. It completes the center’s recently developed outdoor lifestyle retail wing, which is anchored by Whole Foods Market and Café and features Loft, Orvis, Chico’s, Coldwater Creek, Jos. A Bank, Olly Shoes and Massage Envy.

NEW YORK — Although online sales grew 15% from 2010 to 2011, many retailers' online ordering, shipping and returns processes failed to keep pace, according to management consultancy Kurt Salmon's rankings of 50 retailers.