For Immediate Release
May 22, 2002

LANSING — The number of Michigan retailers predicting increased sales for the next three months continued to climb in April, the seventh consecutive month of rising retail industry optimism.

Seventy-three percent said they expect to boost May-July sales over the same period last year, according to the Michigan Retail Index, a joint project of the Michigan Retailers Association (MRA) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. When combined with the 17 percent who project level sales and the 10 percent who predict a falloff, the results create a seasonally adjusted outlook index of 78.4, the highest since 80.6 in February 2000.

Actual sales performance, however, remained sluggish during April.

Thirty-nine percent of retailers said they increased sales over the same month last year, while 45 percent said sales declined and 16 percent reported no change. The results create a seasonally adjusted performance index of 46.0, unchanged from March and down from 51.9 in February.

"April was tough for many retailers because Easter sales were shifted to March and the weather didn’t entice shoppers to purchase spring merchandise," said Larry Meyer, MRA chairman and CEO.

"Even though sales for many general merchandise retailers were lackluster, a growing number strongly expect consumer spending will heat up as the weather warms.

"The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation’s largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA’s more than 5,500 retail business members operate more than 12,000 stores across the state.