U.S. Retail Sales Up in August

Same-store retail sales for August were up 3.4 percent compared to a decline of 2.4 percent for August 2009, according to Kantar Retail. Last month's sales topped July's increase of 2.9 percent. Among the 30 retailers reporting monthly sales, food, drug and mass retailers posted better than average results over last year with department stores following close to the overall composite. Meanwhile, apparel and accessories stores lagged slightly. Limited reported the largest gain among all the retailers posting a 10 percent increase, followed by Zumiez at a 9.1 increase and Tandy Leather Factory at a 9.0 percent increase. Overall,