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I FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD April 10, 1933 r&s r t p - 100 For release in morning papers ^dnasjlay,. April-12 DEPARTMENT STORE SALES IN MARCH, I933 Preliminary report Preliminary f i g u r e s on the value of department s t o r e sales show a decrease from February to March of somewhat more than the estimated seasonal amount. The Federal Reserve Board's index, which makes allowance both f o r number of business days and f o r usual seasonal changes, was 56 in March on the basis of the 1923I925 average as 100, compared with 60 in February and 60 in January, In comparison with a year ago the value of sales f o r March, according to the preliminary f i g u r e s , was 2J per cent smaller. In making the comparison with a year ago, however, allowance should be made f o r the f a c t t h a t the date of Easter, which was very early l a s t year (March 27) i s l a t e t h i s year (April l 6 ) , and that t h i s year sales during March included a much smaller part of Easter buying than they did l a s t year. The aggregate f o r the f i r s t quarter of the year was 25 per cent smaller than l a s t year. PERCENTAGE INCREASE OR DECREASE F O A YEAR A O RM G January 1 Number of March* to reporting March 11* stores Total Federal reserve d i s t r i c t : Boston New York Philadelphia Cleveland Richmond Atlanta Chicago St, Louis Minneapolis Kansas City Dallas San Francisco - 27 - 25 - 33 21 26 32 - 29 31 28 - 25 S3 23 - 22 30 — - Number of cities 447 213 30 23 26 27 52 56 32 30 28 29 15 10 - 24 24 26 26 48 19 6l 20 18 13 34 9 - 22 22 21 28 18 20 19 72 12 13 7 25 * March.figures preliminary; in most d i s t r i c t s the month had the same number of business days t h i s year and l a s t year.
