Retail Sales

U.S. retail sales excluding cars were surprisingly strong in April, showing that consumers were still willing to add spending punch to the economy despite soaring food and energy prices, a government report showed Tuesday. The report echoed recent data that implied underlying economic durability, including fewer job losses in April than had been feared and a surprisingly strong pace of first-quarter productivity that buoyed hope for corporate profits. The Commerce Department said retail sales declined 0.2% but excluding cars, sales rose 0.5%.

High-end outdoor clothier and gear maker Patagonia Inc. is out to prove that a company can generate strong sales while being nearly fanatical about environmental concerns. The Ventura company was the first major clothier to make fleece jackets out of recycled bottles. Nearly a third of the power for its headquarters and adjoining child-care center comes from solar. And it donates 1% of its sales to environmental causes. With Patagonia being a privately held company, its finances are not public, but it says it's riding a growth curve.

Silvia Spross took a baby step into small-business ownership when she opened a jewelry kiosk on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. It took just $11,000 to set up Lapzos Beads, including $3,500 for the first month's rent. So far the Swiss immigrant has hit her goal to average at least $200 a day in sales of the necklaces, rings and bracelets she makes from rough-cut semiprecious stones, polished rocks and beads from around the world. "I would love to own a little store but figured this would be a great start, just to see if it works," said Spross, whose lease runs just through January.

Add slowing retail sales to the story of the payback for the warm winter weather. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail spending in April rose a tiny 0.1% from the previous month, seasonally adjusted. Details of the report made clear that the unusually mild winter had pulled some spending forward — resulting in a spring correction, as was also seen in job growth last month. A separate government report showed the consumer price index, after three months of increases, unchanged in April because of lower fuel costs.

Lipitor is the most prescribed name-brand drug in America - nearly 3.5 million people take it every day to control their cholesterol. Since the statin entered the market in 1997, it's earned New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. $81 billion, making it the best-selling prescription drug of all time, according to IMS Health, a Danbury, Conn.-based healthcare information company. So when Lipitor's patent protection came to an end Nov. 30 and a generic alternative became available, an awful lot of patients had a decision to make: Should they stick with the drug they knew or switch to something less expensive?

In a sign of confidence in the region's recovering economy, developers have resumed construction of a $150-million shopping center in Oxnard. Work on the Collection at RiverPark, a large outdoor mall intended to look like a small-town shopping district, was halted in 2009 when the nation was in a recession. Consumers closed their wallets and retailers canceled expansion plans. "There was a lot of fear in the markets in 2008 and 2009, and that has gone away," said Colm Macken, chief executive of Aliso Viejo developer Shea Properties.

Lanz of California Inc., the sales arm of a longtime Southland apparel manufacturer, said Monday that it is closing its 14 stores in the state and withdrawing from retailing after about 55 years in the business. The company announced its store-closing plans in a news release but did not provide a schedule for the closings and declined to discuss the fate of those employed at the stores. Company officials acknowledged that California's poor economy influenced their decision to close the stores.

Car-crazy California is naturally the nation's biggest tire market, where hundreds of dealers vie for a chunk of the state's roughly $1.3 billion in annual replacement-tire sales. Yet even in this crowd, one man is more familiar than most. He is Sam Winston, the chairman, majority owner and lead pitchman of Winston Tire Co., which operates 158 stores in California. Winston has become a household name after years of starring in his company's TV commercials ("Put Sams on Your Car!").

Mass merchandiser Sears has launched its long-awaited foray into specialty retailing with the $52.4-million purchase of a chain of eye-care "super stores." The acquisition, announced on Friday by Eye Care Centers of America, would give Sears a foothold in the promising eye-care business, which analysts say stands to benefit from the millions of aging Baby Boomers who will have a greater need for eye glasses. The eye-care company, based in San Antonio, Tex.

In a dramatic cost-cutting move, home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. said Wednesday that it would cut 18% of its workforce, reduce its inventory and close a call center and distribution facility. The San Francisco-based company, which is also parent of the Pottery Barn chain, said the series of actions would reduce costs by about $75 million in fiscal 2009. The announcement came on yet another day of bad news for the retail industry. Women's retailer Charlotte Russe Holding Inc.

Chrysler Group reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and logged its best financial performance in more than a decade. Chrysler said it posted net income of $473 million for the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300% from $116 million a year earlier. The company said the gains were driven primarily by a 40% increase in U.S. retail sales. It was the company's highest quarterly profit since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. "Another positive quarter - built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average - is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus," said Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of Chrysler and Italian automaker Fiat.

News reports Thursday morning highlighted two seemingly disappointing economic indicators: claims for new unemployment benefits were higher than expected , and sales of existing homes dropped slightly from the month before. But the data weren't as bad as the headlines suggested. They just weren't very good. And as a consequence, they don't fit into the dueling story lines that President Obama and his likely Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have been advancing in their campaigns.

WASHINGTON -- Forget high gas prices and stagnant incomes. American consumers are spending like the good times are back. Retail sales in March far exceeded analysts' forecasts, growing at a strong 0.8% pace after similarly robust gains in the prior two months, the Census Bureau reported Monday. "Consumers shot the lights out in the first quarter," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York, in a note to clients. Stocks rose in early trading on the news, but there were some caveats.

Shoppers hit the malls in March and provided a boost for the nation's retailers, a sign of a recovering consumer economy and job market — despite the pinch of rising gasoline prices. Major chain stores posted a healthy 4.3% sales increase in March compared with the same month a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations of a more modest 3.5% rise, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 20 retailers. "We are seeing more consistent performance of U.S. jobs and more stabilization of wages," said Laura Gurski, global head of the retail practice at consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

Shoppers hit the malls in March and provided a boost for the nation's retailers, a good sign for consumer spending this spring despite continuing worries about rising gas prices. Major chain stores posted a healthy 4.3% sales increase in March compared with the same month a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations of a more modest 3.5% rise. Discounters, teen retailers and apparel sellers all posted healthy sales increases, according to Thomson Reuters ' tally of 20 retailers.

--Springtime is Christmas for the home-improvement industry, and Home Depot is marking the season with its third annual "Spring Black Friday" promotion. With warmer-than-usual weather over much of the country, the chain is rolling out deals nationwide, instead of region by region as in previous years. The promotions, which include 50% off select patio furniture, are to continue through April 11. Balmy temperatures have showered good fortune on the industry at large. Retail sales for garden and outdoor-home-improvement merchants rose 18% in February compared with the same period a year ago, according to Global Hunter Securities.

Beatriz Cisneros, daughter Roxan and her friend Lizzett Santa Cruz swooped into one of the many bridal shops on Santa Ana's 4th Street like hunters tracking prey. Gem-studded tiaras in clear plastic boxes lined the shelves to their right. To their left were displays of satin altar pillows, lace-trimmed photo albums, gold-rimmed champagne glasses and silver crucifixes. A sewing machine hummed in the background. The accessories could wait.

For most retail stores, staying in business for only a few days would be considered a major flop. But a growing number of merchants are opening shops and abruptly shutting them down soon after -- on purpose. These quickie retail operations -- known as pop-ups -- are showing up throughout Southern California and around the nation, filling in the gaps at recession-battered shopping centers for a fraction of the regular rents. Once limited to seasonal shops and dusty liquidation centers, pop-up stores are now being opened by some of the nation's biggest retailers.

Consumers account for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, so it's always cool when we're out, you know, consuming. And the latest government figures show we're doing more of that. Retail sales jumped a healthy 1.1% last month, nearly double January's 0.6% advance, according to the Commerce Department. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that a big chunk of that spending was at the pump as gas prices continued marching northward. Take away gas purchases from the equation, and retail sales were up only 0.8%.

In a sign of confidence in the region's recovering economy, developers have resumed construction of a $150-million shopping center in Oxnard. Work on the Collection at RiverPark, a large outdoor mall intended to look like a small-town shopping district, was halted in 2009 when the nation was in a recession. Consumers closed their wallets and retailers canceled expansion plans. "There was a lot of fear in the markets in 2008 and 2009, and that has gone away," said Colm Macken, chief executive of Aliso Viejo developer Shea Properties.