A Look At August Retail Sales Figures

As a retail veteran of 7 years (Nordstrom+Dodgers) , I've always liked taking a peek at same-store figures once in awhile. I find them even more interesting during the recession to see who is doing well. A recession usually helps companies that sell everyday items such as groceries, gas, and fast-food. Meanwhile it kills the high-end goods and think you'd like to buy but don't need like a mattress company. Let's run through a few companies with their sales figures and comments.

Abercrombie (-29%) - getting crushed by the economy, always thought they had a problem in attracting management talent because their pipeline of people who want to work their our high school and college kids, now my thoughts are proving to be right
Aeropostale (9%) - good work, nice that their medium exposure to the economy to due to low numbers of stores and price-point is paying off
Gap (-3%) - Wow!, I'm very impressed with this company, they always ace the marketing aspect of their product and know who their customer and what they want to buy
Hot Topic (-8.1%) - a LA based company that stock I still up a ton this year, should continue to do well to low pricepoints as parents continue to cut kids off or just say no to high-end

JC Penney (-7.9%)
Macy (-8.1%)
Nieman's (-16.6%)
Nordstrom (-7.6%)
Sak's (-19.6%)
The more luxury you are of a brand the more you are getting crushed by the economy, it's no suprise to me that Nordstrom is "beating" everybody because in times like these you are looking for value added and their service is better than any store which continues to make it "the most valuable name in retail" additionally I know their margins do well because of the increasing number of in-house and off-brands carried in every department which lower they're overhead and get their sell-thru up during these tough times

Costco (0%)
Target (-2.9%)
Back to school is always a boon to these stores and this year it no different as school is back in session this week in most parts of the country, if you are looking for Walmart sales figures they've decided earlier this year to not release month figures but thanks to their amazing control over their distributors even in a bad economy their cash flows will be more than fine

Ross (6%)
Kohl's (0.2%)
TJ Maxx (5%)
More discounts and more sales increases coming from 3 of America's lower-end stores, I'd expect this trend to continue in the fourth quarter