Department store sales decline in February

New York City Macy's said Thursday its February same-store sales dropped 8.5%, a bigger decline than Wall Street anticipated, but consistent with the retailer's own expectations, One bright spot was online sales, which climbed 16.2% during the month. The results include sales for both macys.com and bloomingdales.com, and are also part of the retailer's same-store sales results.

J.C. Penney Co. and Kohl’s Corp. both outdid Wall Street expectations. At J.C. Penney, sales dropped 8.8% in February, vs. an expected 12.9% decline. The chain said women's apparel continued to sell well in February, while home and family shoes were the best-performing divisions, overall. Fine jewelry posted the weakest sales results.

Kohl's Corp’s same-store sales fell 1.6% vs. an expected 4.4% drop. Kohl’s said its results were boosted by more sales of full-price products.

Bon-Ton Stores said Thursday its same-store sales fell 8.5% in February as the department store operator reduced the amount of clearance merchandise in its stores.

Nordstrom posted a 15.4% drop in same-store sales, deeper than the 14.4% decline expected. At Dillard's, same-store sales slid 13%, also more than analysts expected.