Nonetheless, December was a reversal of the recent

Nonetheless, December was a reversal of the recent aion gold gloomy trend, with sales growth the norm across retail chains rather than the exception.

Luxury chains, among the stores hit hardest by the downturn in 2008, are seeing especially robust growth. Sales in December were up 9.9 percent at Saks, 7.4 percent at Nordstrom and 4.9 percent in the specialty retail segment of Neiman Marcus, which aion kinah includes Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores.

Saks’s results were helped by a year-over-year shift in the timing of the chain’s designer clearance sale. Nordstrom introduced new lower-priced aion kina merchandise, which it sold at full price, a tactic that served the company well.