Macy's Same-Store Sales Top Street in August

Faring well during the key back-to-school season, Macy’s (NYSE:M) posted on Thursday better-than-expected same-store sales growth for the month of August.

The retail giant, with home bases in both New York, where its flagship Herald Square store is undergoing renovations, and in Cincinnati, said sales in stores open longer than a year climbed by 5.1%. That was ahead of average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll of 3.6%.

Total sales for the four weeks ended Aug. 25 improved by 5.7% from the same month last year to $1.81 billion from $1.71 billion.

“Sales exceeded our expectations in August, and the strength was broad-based across merchandise categories, geographies and channels,” Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren said in a statement. “Our fall season is off to a healthy start.”

Leading the late summer growth was back-to-school sales, improved performance in feminine apparel, and growth in men’s apparel, home furnishings, beauty products, women’s shoes and handbags.

At its flagship department store in New York, the first phase of the world’s largest women’s shoe department on the second floor and newly remodeled fine jewelry department on the first floor have been completed.

Lundgren said additional remodeled departments on the first two floors will be reopened prior to Thanksgiving.

Online sales at macys.com and bloomingdales.com, which are included in same-store sales, a highly-watched growth metric for retailers, grew 37.4% in August.