Nordstrom Rack headed to Durham

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Nordstrom January sales rise 14 percent

Luxury department store chain Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday that sales in its stores that had been open at least a year rose 14 percent in January, much more than analysts expected.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected sales in stores open at least one year to rise 5.5 percent.

Total sales for the four-week period that ended Jan. 30 rose 16 percent to $543 million from $468 million.

Behind the January Chill

The nation's retailers are expected to report Thursday that sales rose only slightly last month after robust growth pace in December.

Sparse clearance racks offered little incentive for financially strapped shoppers, who were taking a breather after a last-minute spree before Christmas.

Here's a snapshot of January.

From sweets to nuts

A couple of seasonal favorites are back just in time for the holidays.

See's Candies is again selling nuts and candy at The Streets at Southpoint in Durham and Triangle Town Center in Raleigh.

And The Peanut Roaster is back for the holidays with six temporary stores in addition to its one year-round Triangle store in Cary's Arboretum.

Keep an open mind while shopping

Perusing the sale racks at Nordstrom the other day, I discovered an orange, gold and coral print skirt that looked like it was made of upholstery fabric.

I'd passed it by before and thought it'd be perfect - for someone else. Someone more flamboyant than me, someone whose wardrobe of blacks and grays couldn't be confused with that of Morticia Addams.

But suddenly the price, which had shrunk to $38.90 from $78, made the orange upholstery skirt much more interesting.

Retailers report solid gains in key figure for Jan

Wealthier shoppers went on a buying binge in January and even middle-income Americans spent a little more, retailers said Thursday. Some chains reported their brightest monthly results in years.

The prospects for many stores' fourth-quarter profit also brightened further. Macy's, Gap Inc., Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. and others raised their outlooks Thursday, because they weren't stuck with mounds of holiday leftovers they needed to clear out.

The strong performances offered a nice finish to the industry's fiscal year, which typically ends in January, but the increases came partly because the same period last year was so dismal.