Consumers continue to be home improvement oriented as evidenced by Bombay and Hancock Fabrics again making the list as top retail performers for January. ... The teen market also remains strong with Hot Topic and Pacific Sunwear making additional headway with teen pleasing products for this fickle consumer base. ... Bombay shines brightly while benefiting from dismal results in 2002 when its holiday merchandise fell flat. ... Promotional activity, product mix and inventory timing helped clothiers Jos A Bank, Gymboree and Bon Ton. ... Growth at Sharper Image reflects good sell through of holiday merchandise, which continued into January, with solid sales of its private label assortments.

In addition to sitting atop the Top 10 retail performers list, five of these companies also share accolades as Rising Stars. … Spiegel/Eddie Bauer, albeit improved, remain in negative territory. … The popular 16 to 25 year old demographic appears to vote their pocketbooks at the Gap and Pacific Sunwear while men's retailers Jos A Bank and (to a lesser degree) Men's Wearhouse capture the office casual and suit market. … Undoubtedly, Sharper Image's unique product line snared post-holiday sales. … Notably, eight of the Rising Stars had posted significantly negative (mostly double-digit) comps in January 2002.

Winter weather reared its ugly head for much of the country in January, paring traffic and making sales hard to come by at many retailers. With consumers snuggled in their warm houses it took increased promotional activity and stellar merchandising to prod purchasers to venture out, let alone buy. Discounters such as Odd Job and Stein Mart felt the sting of lackluster consumer traffic. … Women's retailers United Retail (plus sizes) and Ann Taylor again made our Bottom 10 list as offerings that failed to meet sell through targets for the holiday season remained unattractive. … Wet Seal is still fishing to find the right bait for teenagers. … Christopher & Banks in apparel along with DSW and Shoe Carnival in shoes lost favor with value oriented shoppers.

Notably, like the Rising Stars and Top 10 performers, seven of the Bottom 10 performers prominently populated our list of Falling Stars. … Intertan dominates the Canadian consumer electronics landscape and post holiday purchases failed to live up to last year's postings. … In spite of Children's Place's aggressive promotions and reduced prices, traffic remained inadequate to match last year's performance. … Both consumers and the equity markets have had a love affair with Chico's and Ross Stores, which failed to live up to the stellar performances of last year. … Even steep discounts and aggressive inventory clearance at Stage Stores failed to counteract waning consumer confidence and the weak economy.

Drug Stores continue to exhibit steady growth, which clearly reflects the virtually 'recession proof' industry driven by America's aging population and their increased use of preventative medicines. … The Sporting Goods industry suffered as consumers targeted debt management and non-discretionary purchases with their disposable incomes. … As an across the board observation, Apparel and other 'wearable' categories continue to experience lackluster sales. … Home Furnishings as well as the 'do-it-yourself' and craft related industries find favor as refinancing dollars are invested in families' largest asset, their homes.