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Stage Stores, who operate under store banners such a Beall’s, Goody’s, Palais Royal, Peebles and Stage, offers moderately priced brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics and footwear. They are reporting a strong holiday sales season for 2014. Official fourth quarter and full year 2014 results will be reported March 3, but Stage is reporting same store... Read more »

January 9, 2015 Retail industry employment increased by 2,000 jobs in December as healthy hiring gains in general merchandise and sporting goods stores were offset by declines in clothing and furniture stores, the National Retail Federation said today.  Retail employment for 2014 climbed by 176,000 jobs over the year before, according to NRF’s calculations, which... Read more »

January 12, 2015 The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased in December.  The index now stands at 128.43, up from 127.83 in November.  This represents a 7.5 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago. “The Employment Trends Index increased in every single month of 2014, capping the year off with strong... Read more »

January 8, 2015 Costco showed again in December why it’s the cream of the crop among warehouse club stores. The Washington based retailer reported an increase of 8% in same store sales in the United States, excluding gasoline sales and foreign exchange.  Same-store sales at international stores rose by 1%. Net sales for the retailer... Read more »

January 9, 2015 The economy generated 252,000 new jobs in December, and the gains for November and October were revised up.  These strong gains are likely to continue to boost consumer spending in 2015.  The continued drop in the unemployment rate, to 5.6 percent in December, puts us within striking distance of the natural rate... Read more »

Macy’s reported a 2.7% year over year increase in sales for November and December. This was in line with their projected 2-3% sales increase prediction.  “We feel very good about our performance in the November/December period as we reversed trend from a soft third quarter and set the stage for continued progress going forward,” Terry... Read more »

Holiday online sales in 2014 exceeded an already optimistic forecast. Total desktop online sales for November through December grew 15% to $53.3 billion, $2 billion of that total coming from Cyber Monday, making 2014 the 5th consecutive year this day had the highest amount of spending. The day after Cyber Monday came in second with... Read more »

January 5, 2015 Rite Aid Corp. says sales at stores open at least a year grew 5.3% in December, boosted again by strengthening pharmacy sales. Same-store sales at the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based retailer grew 5.3% to $2.2 billion, beating analyst consensus of 4.5% and reflecting a 1.7% increase in front-end same-store sales and a 7.3%... Read more »

January 2, 2015 Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December for the 19th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 67th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The report was issued by Bradley J. Holcomb, chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)... Read more »