WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. retail sales slipped during the week ending Saturday and came in marginally higher than the same week of 2011, a Washington retail trade group said.
Sales receipts dropped 0.2 percent week-to-week, but rose 1.4 percent from the same week of 2011, the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs weekly consumer tracking survey said.
The 1.4 percent gain is marginal, as inflation explains the entire gain rather than increased sales volume.
Weather Trends Inc., which advises retailers on climate factors that influence shopping, had a painfully obvious weather pattern to explain the disrupted sales, Hurricane Sandy, which "slammed into the New Jersey coast on Monday evening [Oct. 29] causing widespread disruption in the Northeast," the report said.
The most critical damage was along the coastline of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and further up the coast. However, "impacts from Sandy were felt as far west as Chicago, where 24 foot waves were measured on Lake Michigan."
The storm also met with a winter cold front, turning heavy rain into snow in parts of Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, Weather Trends said.
The aftermath also hit retailers. Besides the cost of repairs, Sandy caused flooding and power outages also derailed the week's shopping activity.
On a more normal note for this time of year, ICSC-Goldman Sachs said an annual consumer survey found about a third of consumers had already started their holiday shopping.
But the storm was the past week's most obvious influence, so much so, the weekly report's normal explanation of gasoline prices deferred to the storm.
"In the Northeast, the price of gasoline mattered less over the past week than the availability as gasoline shortages restricted driving," the report said.
