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Same-store sales up
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December 13, 1999: 7:26 p.m. ET
Company says holiday sales rise 4.2 percent in first 17 days of the season
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Silver bells were ringing throughout the retail world Monday, as a study showed same-store sales for the first 17 days of the holiday shopping season were up 4.2 percent from the same period last year.
The figures are also well above the rise recorded in 1998 when same-store sales were up only 1.0 percent for the same period compared with the previous year, according to TeleCheck Services Inc., a Houston-based check acceptance company.
"During the past week, shoppers moderated the brisk pace of holiday spending from earlier in the season, which follows the patter of consumer spending over the past few years,” William Ford, TeleCheck’s senior economic advisor, said in a statement. "With a healthy economy and no political distractions in sight, TeleCheck anticipates a surge of spending during the final 12 days of the season.”
Ford said he is projecting the entire season to be up 3 percent to 5 percent from last year.
"I expect Saturday (before Christmas) to be the biggest day of the year,” he said.
TeleCheck’s data is based on a same-store comparison of the dollar volume of authorized checks written by consumers at more than 27,000 of TeleCheck’s 210,000 subscribing locations. Checks account for about one-third of retail spending.
Ford said the survey does not include online retail sales, which would account for about 1 percent of holiday sales, or sales from stores open less than one year, which would account for about 1.7 percent of sales.
On a regional basis, New York sales rose 5.6 percent, with New York City jumping 5.5 percent. Ford said Hawaii also made strong gains, rising 5.8 percent, largely because of the turnaround in the Asian economy.
New York City’s strong numbers could take a beating, however, if a threatened transit strike bruises the Big Apple this week.
Ford said sales in Seattle were off, rising only 2.2 percent compared to Washington State’s 2.9 percent increase because of the riots at the recent World Trade Organization meeting.
"Seattle is still hurting,” he said. "If the subways were shut down in New York, it would probably have a similar effect. It could hurt New York’s economy and it would be a bad time for retailers.”
TeleCheck is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based First Data Corp. (FDC). 
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TeleCheck Services
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