January’s retail winners and losers: You might be surprised

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Well, the January retail sales numbers are in, and here’s a quick look at the winners and losers. Let’s start with the losers: Abercrombie & Fitch, down 20% from last January; American Eagle, down 22%; San Francisco-based Gap, off 23%; and Saks posted a 23.7% decline. The big winners? Aeropostale, up 11%; Hot Topic, up 6%; Wal-Mart, (excluding gas), up 2.1%; and L.A.’s own American Apparel, up 2%.

Aeropostale could be benefiting from its lower-priced goods as shoppers trade down. The chain has sold trendier merchandise lately and could also be benefiting from the refusal of Abercrombie & Fitch, one of Aeropostale’s biggest competitors, to discount its merchandise, said Betty Chen, a specialty retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

‘We really feel that parents and teens are voting with their dollars,’ Chen said. ‘Competitively, at full retail price points, Abercrombie is too expensive. If Abercrombie chooses not to promote, that could continue to help the other retailers.’

Coming in with middling declines were Costco and Ross, each down 2%; Target, off by 3.3%; Macy’s, down 4.5%; and Limited, off 9%. Pacific Sunwear, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Wet Seal and JCPenny all posted losses in the double-digits.

At Glendale Galleria on Wednesday, Robert Cooke, 49, said he and his family have scaled back their expenses in recent months as they prepare to buy a house in Encino. These days, it’s all about buying basics such as groceries and gasoline, he said.

“Everything is a deal right now, and we’re still generally not buying,” said Cooke, upper division director at Brentwood School. “Truly, if we don’t need it right now, we’re not buying it.”

-- Andrea Chang