Pent-up demand from the previous month's hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as a push in footwear sales helped sales in October. Last month's Hurricane Wilma hurt the apparel market in Florida, but the storm drove sales as discount stores and wholesale clubs in the area.

Wholesale clubs were again the strongest-performing sector in the industry, jumping 8.2%. Costco had the best results, climbing 10%, while Wal-Mart's Sam's Clubs turned in a 6.7% increase.

Apparel chains would have reported a 5.6% hike, but Gap Inc.'s stores held back the sector, falling by 3%. Limited Brands also suffered, dropping 3%. Leading gainers in apparel were Abercrombie & Fitch, up 31%; Chico's FAS, rising 17.9%; and American Eagle Outfitters, which shot up 17.3%.

Department stores as a whole rose 3.8%. Dillard's, gaining 8%, performed much better than its year-to-date average of 0.3%. The luxury chains Neiman Marcus, up 7%, and Nordstrom, rising 6.4%, also performed well. But the sector's largest player, Federated Department Stores, dropped 0.7%.

Discounters collectively posted a 3.6% hike. Target stores were up 5.7%, while Wal-Mart gained 3.9%. ShopKo Stores fell by 2.4%, but improved on its year-to-date average drop of 5.4%

According to the ICSC report, the better-than-expected sales should improve confidence for the coming holiday season. It predicts that November sales will increase by 3.5%.