The International Council of Shopping Centers reported that U.S. chain store sales in February rose by a strong 3.7% on a comparable store basis, a much better performance than previous expectations. February was the strongest month since November 2007 when sales increased 4.9%. This was one month ahead of the start of the 2007-2009 global recession.

 

ICSC said many retailers were negatively impacted by Februarys severe snowstorms, especially in the Northeast. ICSC figures that the industry-wide weather drag on the February sales growth rate was worth about one percentage point. However, that did not seem to bring a halt to the retail recovery in the most weather-sensitive segments.

 

Looking ahead to March, ICSC Research anticipates that sales will increase by about 2.5% as those easy year-ago comparisons continue and so too does the consumer recovery.