Reporters have to start realizing that making a comparison of year over year same store retail sales is not the same in 2009 as it is most other times. Many stores have closed over the last year and very few have opened. This means that it should be expected that same store sales would rise even if there were no change in total sales, since the stores open a year ago will have a larger share of the market. This is pretty straightforward and the people who report on retail should understand it.
--Dean Baker
