Christmas in October : Retailers Are Cheered by Stronger Sales, but the Glee Doesn’t Reach California

Retailers throughout the nation on Thursday reported that sales picked up in October from the sluggish pace of the previous two months, raising hopes for a robust Christmas selling season.

But California’s continued economic sluggishness hurt retailers operating in the state, portending a less merry holiday season here, analysts said.

Nationwide, major retailers posted an average 7% to 8% gain from a year ago in comparable store sales, according to two industry surveys. Comparable store sales are those from stores open for at least one year, which the industry regards as the best growth measure.

Johnson Redbook, a retailing market research firm, tallied an average 8.1% gain in its department chain store index, while Salomon Bros. found a 7.3% gain among 11 major retailers.

“Retail sales are doing well despite consumer confidence being low. In the fourth quarter we are looking for these sales to continue up,” said retail analyst Edward Johnson, publisher of Johnson Redbook.

But while the rest of the nation may be moving toward increased Christmas spending, analysts see no such upward trend in California.

“I would say it is going to be a very meager Christmas for retailers,” said Jack Kyser of the Economic Development Corp. of California. Kyser said President-elect Bill Clinton’s economic policies could increase consumer confidence, but otherwise the California outlook is grim.

Retailing giant Dayton Hudson Corp.--parent of the Target and Mervyn’s chains--said its California stores pulled its overall sales down.

In the rest of the country, discount retailers whose stores are in shopping centers did noticeably better than mall-based retailers, a sign that the consumer is still very price conscious, analysts said.

Cool weather helped October sales nationally as consumers shopped for winter wear.