ShopperTrak report: Year-over-year retail weekly sales up 5.9%

Chicago ShopperTrak Corp. said Tuesday that its just-released National Retail Sales Estimate found that year-over-year GAFO retail sales increased 5.9% for the week ending Sept. 12.

Sales rose 1.3% versus the previous week ending Sept. 5.

According to ShopperTrak, Labor Day weekend positively influenced both weekly and yearly GAFO retail sales last week, although year-over-year performance was a bit skewed due to the 2009 calendar effect comparing last week with the week after Labor Day in 2008.

Looking ahead, ShopperTrak expects sales levels to return to seasonal low levels over the next few weeks until Columbus Day weekend and Halloween.

“Typically, this time period is rather slow for retailers, and the continued warm weather throughout the country should impact retail sales even further as consumers put off purchasing cold-weather gear until the temperature begins to drop a bit,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.