Haverty Furniture's May same-store sales fall

Haverty Furniture Cos. said Wednesday that same-store sales fell 6.3 percent last month as a weak home furnishing market persisted amid the continued housing slump.

Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, is a key gauge of retailers' performance because it measures sales at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Total May sales fell 3.9 percent to $61.6 million. Year-to-date, same-store sales fell 5.7 percent, while total sales fell 2.6 percent to $300.8 million.

Home furnishing retailers are feeling pressure as consumers cut back on big-ticket items such as furniture amid rising cost of living, the housing slump and tightening credit markets.

Things may not turn around soon.

"Last year's June delivered sales are a more difficult comparison than were April or May," Chief Executive Clarence H. Smith said in a statement. "Based on this difference and given the current tenor of business, we currently expect that our total delivered sales for the full second quarter will be down by a high single-digit percentage compared to last year's quarter."