December Same-Store Sales Beat Street

Update with same-store-sales chart.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As far as topping the estimates of analysts goes, December's retail same-store sales were a hit.

While the International Council of Shopping Centers predicted a 2.5% increase in overall December same-store sales, the actual figure turned out to be 2.8%, based on data from 32 retailers. As an aggregate, this is the best comp sales performance Wall Street has seen since mid-2008, when there was a 3.3% increase in April.

ICSC data shows that 2009 started out down 4.8% in January for the then-flailing retail industry, which continued to struggle for much of the year through August. By September, retailers were beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel; by December the end of the tunnel seemed near.

"It was a second half story. That's when you really saw the improvement," Michael Niemira, the ICSC's chief economist said. "It was a reflection of how the consumer shopped. They shopped closer to the need."

Niemira said that this pattern has been in progression over the years and wasn't necessarily recession related. "It's the great procrastination you see more of."

Niemera said that the aggregate performance of retailers may have been stellar, but also noted the uneven performance, with big value retailers like Costco performing particularly well.

Niemira predicts that January same store sales will be weaker than Dec.'s, with a 1% increase, as consumers' need for shopping subsides during this extension of the holiday season months. However, he predicts that 2010 should come in at 3% to 3.5% compared to a 2% decline in 2009.