Super Storms/Bowl Push Week 4 Down
After strong weeks two and three, January ended with a plunging week four. Independent grocers reported their same store sales were down 10.7 percent compared to the same period the year before. Customer counts were down 5.24 percent. There are two likely reasons for the big dip: one is the major blizzard that dumped around three feet of snow on much of the East coast. If shoppers had been stocking up the week before, as evidence points in a big week three, they were probably hunkered down after the snow fell.
The second reason is the Superbowl – last year, the big game took place on February 1, whereas this year’s contest was held on February 7. The game is a big grocery shopping holiday and the week’s difference probably affected sales. Expect to see a bump in February 2016 week one.
Week four pulled down what was largely a positive January into negative territory, with the month’s sales down 0.17 percent compared to 2015.
Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added 151,000 jobs in January – a modest increase the likes of which was predicted by several economic reports. While job gains were on the slow side, the labor force increased, the participation rate edged upwards, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent.
