March 4, 2010 | 8:38 a.m. The retail industry's slow but steady recovery picked up the pace in February, with the nation's merchants posting the best sales results in more than two years.
Despite severe weather in some parts of the country, shoppers still turned out at the nation's malls to buy spring merchandise and other goods, helping retailers report a 4% year-over-year sales increase last month, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 28 major chains. It was the strongest gain since November 2007, a month before the recession began.
With the exception of drugstores, every sector -- including discounters, department stores and apparel sellers -- did better than expected, Thomson Reuters said. Of individual retailers, more than three-fourths outperformed expectations.
"These results are very encouraging as we head into March," said Ken Perkins, president of research company Retail Metrics Inc. "Consumers seem to be coming out of hibernation."
The month's best performers included off-price seller Ross Stores Inc. which posted an 11% sales increase and upscale department store chain Nordstrom Inc., with a 10.3% rise. TJX Cos., which operates off-price chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, and apparel chain Limited posted 10% gains.
Weaker players included teen seller Hot Topic Inc. of City of Industry, which reported a 7% decline. Still, that was better than the 13.1% drop that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted.
Results are based on sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales. They are considered an important measure of retail health because they exclude the effect of store openings and closings.
Although the economy hasn't fully recovered, consumers strolling along Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard on Wednesday said improving conditions made them more willing to spend on discretionary items.
Tarik Adlai, a lawyer from Silver Lake, said he didn't shop for clothes at all last year because money was tight.
But last month, "I went out and bought a lot of stuff, clothes that I hadn't bought in a while," said Adlai, 46, who estimated he spent about $800 on the shopping spree. "I'm just feeling a little more comfortable."
