September sales took another hit at Federated Department Stores Inc., Cincinnati, thanks to Hurricane Jeanne, the company reported yesterday. The news follows previous reports that Hurricane Frances caused a drop in sales earlier in the month.
Early estimates of lost sales at Federated's Florida stores total about $10 million from Hurricane Jeanne, reducing September same-store sales by 0.7 percent.
The combined effect of hurricanes Frances and Jeanne reduced sales by about $30 million and same-store sales by 2.1 percent. The company expects its overall same-store sales to be down slightly in September as a result of the storms.
Though it was too early yesterday to assess the total effect of Hurricane Jeanne, Federated did not think any of its Burdines-Macy's or Bloomingdale's stores in Florida were seriously damaged from the weekend's storm.
