Retail sales in December turned out to be just about as poor as many store owners were woefully predicting during the holidays.

On Tuesday the U.S. Commerce Department released figures showing an overall increase of 1.2% during the month, due to a 5% surge in strong automobile sales, while sales at department stores dropped 0.3% and food store sales fell 1.0%.
The department revised up overall retail sales for November to 0.9% from 0.4% but, excluding automobiles and parts, sales were revised down to 0.3% from 0.5%
For all of 2002, retail sales increased 3.4%, the smallest increase since the Commerce Department began releasing the data in its current form since 1993.
"Retail sales for the fourth quarter increased only 0.1% from the third quarter because of the weak start in October," said Newport Communications Senior Economist Jim Haughey. "This assures that GDP growth for the last quarter was less than half of the 4.0% gain in the third quarter. But it also confirms that consumers have returned to a spending mood -- even if they are skipping the malls."
Haughey noted non-store retailers boosted their sales 3.0% in December to 13.8% above a year earlier, adding they now account for 7.8% of spending excluding autos and gas stations.