Luxury retailers and some discount stores had significant sales gains in May but consumer concerns about the economy, the ailing housing market and high oil and gasoline prices kept general store sales below expectations.
Thomson Reuters said sales of stores it tracks rose 4.9%, below the 5.4% most analysts had anticipated, and below the 8.9% jump in general sales in April.
"There is a shakiness in the overall economy and it is being reflected in the numbers that are coming in from retailers," Janet Hoffman of Accenture told the Wall Street Journal. "The cards are stacked against the consumer right now and retailers will have to work hard to bring them into stores."
Chris G. Christopher Jr. of HIS Global Insight told the New York Times: "The fact that luxury stores are plowing ahead gives some credence to suspicions that the high-end American consumer is pulling out of the recession relatively well, while the rest are having their incomes swallowed up by higher food and gasoline prices."
Among luxury stores open at least a year, Saks's sales rose 20.2% and Nordstrom climbed 7.4%. Warehouse clubs did well, too: same-store sales at Costco rose 13% and at BJ's Wholesale Club were up 7.4%. Most department and general discount stores had softer sales: for example, J.C. Penney fell 1%, Kohl's rose 0.8% and Target was up 2.8%.