New York City temperatures soared to 71 degrees Fahrenheit in Central Park by 10 a.m. yesterday, and a high of 74 was expected for the day, shattering the record high of 63 degrees back in 1996. Those with holiday shopping to do are still surely doing it, but retailers on the Eastern part of the country specializing in cold-weather gear continue to suffer from the absence of sweater weather. Record highs were already hit today in other cities, including Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Providence, R.I., and hundreds more were expected to join them.
In fact, specialty retailers have lost at least $421 million in revenues this year because of a warming trend, according to Planalytics statistics cited by Fortune.
In New York City, temperatures are 12 degrees Fahrenheit above the normal average in December. That means that people tend not to buy new coats, scarves and gloves, all of which are popular gift choices in normal years.
In fact, Berwyn, Pa.-based Planalytics data shows that outerwear sales are down 10 percent while sweater sales slipped 6 percent.
For retailers, this means bloated inventory and deep discounts in January to help them move it. Retailers such as Gap and Abercrombie and Fitch get hit hard by such weather fluctuations, an analyst told Fortune.
One possible bright spot comes for restaurants, which benefit from warmer weather, as do big-box retailers such as Target, because people don't mind driving to the stores.















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