Stung by sluggish holiday traffic, women's clothing retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. said Thursday that its same-store sales dropped 1 percent in December compared with last year.
The Plymouth-based company last week had predicted a drop in sales of 1 to 2 percent in stores open a least a year, an important measure of a retailer's health.
Even with expectations in check, Wall Street pushed the stock down 3.8 percent to $10.97. Last week's forecast had sent shares tumbling nearly 14 percent. In the past 52 weeks, Christopher & Banks' stock has dropped 48 percent.
Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Kohl's and other major retailers are scheduled to announce their December sales results on Thursday.
Christopher & Banks, which markets its novelty and casual clothing to women age 40 to 60, may offer an early glimpse into a retail season in which analysts have predicted the slowest sales growth in five years.
Christopher & Banks CEO Lorna Nagler said in a news release she was pleased that merchandise margins had shown "significant improvement compared to last year, despite the challenging retail environment."
In the four-week period ending Dec. 29, total sales increased 3 percent to $61.8 million. That compares with $60 million last year for the four weeks ending Dec. 23, which doesn't include the after-Christmas sales rush and gift-card sales, which retailers can't count as revenue until they're redeemed.
Monthly same-store sales figures were not affected by the calendar shift, however, and compared monthly sales for the four weeks ending Dec. 29 of this year with the four-weeks ending Dec. 30, 2006.
