Retail Under The Weather – Redux

Declining retail traffic is being blamed on bad weather for the second year, but there are some signs that retailers are starting to stabilize

This time last year, the big story in retail was that a bitter winter was keeping customers away, but last week same-store retail traffic was even worse and companies are again pointing to heavy snowfall as the culprit. The good news is that retailers may finally be pushing back toward positive same-store traffic growth, and apparel stores are already on the upswing.

“We believe weather was primary culprit as 2 significant snowstorms impacted the Northeast,” write Cowen analysts Oliver Chen and Steven Zaccone. “Less snow for Feb Wk 3, but still cold in East; west warm &...