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By Khadeeja Safdar and Suzanne Kapner 

Shoppers opened their wallets for electronics, beauty products and clothes during the holiday season, as strong consumer spending gave a boost to several brick-and-mortar retailers.

Same-store sales at Best Buy Co. surged 9% in the holiday quarter, as the electronics retailer benefited from higher videogame demand and store closures at some of its competitors. Other chains, including Kohl's Corp., Macy's Inc., Gap Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. posted sales gains as well.

"The consumer is in a much better mind-set," said Best Buy Chief Executive Hubert Joly on a media call Thursday. "The better macro conditions were helpful to all the retailers for sure."

Kohl's said comparable-store sales rose 6.3%, its largest sales increase since 2001. Gap reported a 5% gain, its fifth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales growth. And Nordstrom reported a same-store sales increase of 2.6%. Both its full-line department stores and discount Rack stores posted same-store sales gains.

Kohl's CEO Kevin Mansell said the sales gains were driven by improvements in customer traffic. Mr. Mansell said that all product categories and geographical regions had positive sales in the period. Even though sales slowed in January, he said the company "entered 2018 with a lot of momentum on the top line."

Shares of Best Buy closed up 4% as U.S. stocks overall were broadly lower. Kohl's shares were down more than 5%. Shares of Gap rose 8% in after-hours trading.

Analysts and economists have said that low unemployment and rising wages gave consumers the confidence to spend this holiday season. "Everybody in retail right now is benefiting from strong consumer confidence," Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said in an interview earlier this week.

Earlier in the year, Target Corp. said sales were strong in November and December. The company is expected to report quarterly results next week.

The latest results come as retailers contend with the rise of online shopping and the fallout from years of overbuilding. More than 6,000 store closures were announced last year, and at least 50 retailers filed for bankruptcy, including Gymboree Corp., Payless ShoeSource Inc. and Toys 'R' Us Inc.

Best Buy said this week that it will be closing all of its 250 mobile-phone stores in the U.S. by the end of May, in response to a more mature smartphone market.

The electronics retailer has largely avoided mass store closures by ramping up its e-commerce efforts, promising to match the prices of online rivals, and offering technical-support services. Mr. Joly said those efforts helped boost results. In the fourth quarter, Best Buy's domestic online sales jumped 18% on a comparable basis. The company also topped sales and profit expectations for the quarter.

Mr. Joly said there was better product availability during the holiday season after shortages and recalls from manufacturers hurt results the previous year.

At Gap Inc., the results were largely driven by a 9% increase at its budget brand Old Navy. The parent company has been shifting its footprint accordingly. Last year, it announced plans to close about 200 Banana Republic and Gap stores over the next three years, while opening new Old Navy and Athleta locations.

While Kohl's hasn't announced mass store closures, it is shrinking its square footage. Mr. Mansell said the company will lease space to discount grocer Aldi in as many as 10 stores.

Kohl's said partnerships with Under Armour Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. helped boost sales during the latest quarter. Mr. Mansell said Kohl's had begun discussions with Amazon to expand their pact, which includes having Amazon shops in Kohl's stores and allowing customers to return items they purchased at the online retailer at a handful of its locations.

Not all retailers fared better. On Wednesday, L Brands Inc., which owns Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, said comparable sales rose 2% in the fourth quarter, but the retailer gave a downbeat earnings outlook for its current fiscal year.

L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner has been trying to fix weakness in the bra business by changing product lines and sprucing up stores. Unlike other mall chains, his retailers have been expanding their store footprints. Shares were down 12% on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, Walmart Inc. said it stumbled in the fourth quarter after misjudging its online inventory for the holiday season.

--Imani Moise contributed to this article.

Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com and Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 01, 2018 17:26 ET (22:26 GMT)

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