Survey: U.S. retail sales rise 2.3% during Christmas week

New York City A survey released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs revealed that U.S. retail sales climbed 2.3% during Christmas week, even after a snowstorm on the East Coast hampered sales at the start of the period.

The gain for the week ended Dec. 26 means comp-store sales will still rise about 2% this month, according to ICSC and Goldman Sachs in an e-mailed statement.

Consumers packed more shopping into the final days before Christmas after the “super-sized” storm on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20, said Michael Niemira, chief economist of ICSC. Sales this holiday season may have rebounded from 2008’s results, which were the worst since ICSC started measuring four decades ago.

“We have definitely turned the corner,” Niemira told Bloomberg in a Tuesday phone interview. “We are in a retail recovery, but it’s not by any means going to be a smooth sailing.”

He estimates sales growth next year of 3% to 3.5%. The ICSC will issue a formal 2010 forecast in January.

For the entire November-December holiday season, ICSC has forecast a 1% increase in sales based on results from a sample of retail chains.

MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, which measures retail sales across all payment forms, including cash and checks, said Monday that sales rose an estimated 3.6% from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24.