NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Retail sales fell 1.4 percent last week as stores closed and customers stayed home in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a report said Tuesday.
The decline represents the largest weekly drop in sales since the week of March 31.
Sales plummeted 50 to 55 percent immediately after the attacks last Tuesday as malls and stores closed in response to the tragedy, with customer traffic dropping about 65 percent. Consumers stayed at home to monitor news coverage of the attacks, according to the weekly chain store sales report from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. and UBS Warburg.
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However, customer traffic revived Wednesday and by the weekend, sales had returned to a more normal pace. But the effect of the attack combined with Hurricane Gabrielle, which slammed Florida during the week, hurt sales.
As a result, early-September sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, which began on a soft note, now are expected to increase 1.5 to 2 percent compared with previous expectations of a 3 percent increase, the report said.
The BTM/UBSW Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from seven major discount, department and chain stores across the country that report their weekly results. They include J.C. Penney, Sears, Target, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Federated Department Stores Inc. and May Department Stores Co.
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The index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.
Meanwhile, the weekly Redbook Retail Sales Average compiled by Instinet Research fell 3.2 percent for the week at discount, chain and department stores. That's considerably lower than the previous week's 0.7 percent loss and compared with a target of 0.0 percent, Redbook said.
On a year-to-year basis, the index fell 3.5 percent, compared with a 1.7 percent rise one week earlier.
The average is compiled from a sample of general merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 stores.
