• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 11, 2007

While few observers are expecting the June retail sales numbers--many of which come out today--to be upbeat, Sears and Home Depot got the retail news off to an unexpectedly dismal start.

Sears Holdings, one of the few major retailers that doesn't report monthly sales figures, says that for the first nine weeks of this 13-week quarter, sales are way down. U.S. comparable store sales (a barometer closely watched by retail insiders) are off 3.9% so far, and sales at Sears stores have already tumbled 4%. The company says the declines happened in most merchandise categories. (Woman's clothing and footwear were two bright spots.)

Home appliances--a key sector, with its Kenmore brands--declined more than store averages, although the Chicago-based holding company did say appliance sales weren't quite as bad as the prior quarter.

"We are disappointed with our recent performance," the company says in its announcement. "Although we believe our business has suffered from many of the same factors that have led other retailers to announce disappointing results and lowered expectations, our recent performance underscores our ongoing need to become more relevant to consumers."

The song was the same at Home Depot, based in Atlanta. The world's largest home-improvement retailer says that instead of seeing a profit decline of 9% this year, it now expects earnings-per-share to slide 15%, due to the sale of its HD Supply unit and continued weakness in the U.S. housing market.

Company executives say they expect the housing market to "remain challenging" for the rest of 2007 and into 2008.