• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 3, 2011

Despite plenty of bad weather, consumers shopped up a storm in January, giving stores plenty of good news.

Kantar Retail reports that same-store sales grew by 4.9% in January, compared with the somewhat ho-hum gain of 3.2% in December. And the International Council of Shopping Centers, which tracks a slightly different group of stores, says its index grew by 4.8%.

Experts say the stronger-than-expected results for some stores -- on the heels of disappointing December, which followed a hot November -- suggest that this recovery may continue to lurch along in this up-a-little, up-a-lot fashion for some time.

"It's been volatile and uneven since last summer or so, and we expect it to continue to be so for the rest of this year," Frank Badillo, Kantar's senior economist, tells Marketing Daily. "But spending intentions among consumers are bouncing back. That's fed by a number of things -- there is more certainty, post-election. The stock markets are recovering. And there have been some great price promotions from retailers, starting before the holiday."

The month's biggest winner was Limited Brands, which owns Victoria's Secret, and Bath & Body Works, with an 18% gain in same-store results. Other big increases came from include Costco, up 9%, Neiman Marcus, up 9.8%, and Walgreens, up 6.1%.

Department stores struggled, though, with chains like Macy's (up 2.6%), Kohl's (up 1.4%) and JC Penney (down 1.2%) reporting that weather cut into expected results. Teen retailers also got beat up, with same-store results falling 6% at American Eagle Outfitters, 4% at Abercrombie & Fitch, and 3.3% at Hot Topic. (Zumiez, on the other hand, scored an impressive 15.3% gain.)

For February, ICSC projects sales will increase by 2.5 to 3%.