Local retailers weigh in on sales

Apart from auto dealers, the retail sectors that did best in April compared with a year ago nationally were building and garden supply stores and clothing stores.

Retailers selling building material and garden equipment and supplies had 12 percent higher sales last month than April 2009 and nearly 7 percent higher than March. At clothing and accessories stores, sales dipped by 1 percent last month compared with March, but were up nearly 6 percent last month compared with a year ago. Here's a look at local retailers in those areas:

Mark Palumbo, owner of a landscape design and construction company in Dix Hills, said his company was doing even better that the national average.

Compared with last March through May, he said, "Our sales this year are extremely strong. This year our sales are up probably 50 percent."

He credits "all the people that put off work" earlier during the recession for what he called a "phenomenal spring" so far. The company, Island Design & Landscaping Inc., makes landscapes and installs pools and patios.

Palumbo also owns a retail garden center, where the season begins in earnest this month. "Sales are definitely stronger there, also," he said.

Pat Mirecki, assistant manager at Nassau Suffolk Lumber and Supply Corp. in Huntington Station, said he's recently noticed business beginning to pick up "very slowly."

After a dreadful summer last year and coming off a bad winter, he said, "We started seeing improvements when the weather broke."

Mirecki said after holding tightly to their wallets, homeowners and builders had a lot of maintenance and renovation work to catch up on. "If you own a house," he said, "eventually you have to do something to it."

He said he was hopeful that the rest of the spring was looking up. "People are starting to come around now."

Carlene Afetian, owner of a boutique called Veronica Rayne, in downtown Northport, said the outlook has improved enough that she plans to "bulk up my inventory."

In late March, she said, "things really started to pick up." When the weather gets warmer, she said, consumers want lighter clothing and have "more parties" to dress up for.

To help weather the economic downturn, Afetian said she adjusted by finding products at lower price points.

But she believes consumers are starting to emerge a bit from their defensive budget modes. "They're tired of not spending. They still need stuff - they need clothing."