December sales figures are coming in, and this especially caught our attention — Kmart posted really good numbers. The discounter’s same-store sales rose 5.3% year over year during the month.
Strong sales of toys, home furnishings and apparel benefited the chain. Over the course of 2009, the monthly same-store sales average at Kmart was a 0.7% drop.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Kmart’s performance in December 2008 was an easy comparison, as same-store sales fell 1.1% during that period.
Parent company Sears Holding’s bigger problem right now is its namesake chain, which recorded a 4.3% decline in December and an 8.8% drop for all of 2009. Sears was hurt, the company says, by a decrease in hardline sales.
Is Kmart a bright side right now to the big picture at Sears Holdings, or should we not expect this sales-jump trend to last?
Counter Culture 
As long as the oft-mentioned preference for all things value-oriented persists, I think K-Mart will be a beneficiary. Which means for the foreseeable future, in my view.