• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 4, 2011

Despite heat waves and unsettling economic headlines, consumers shopped plenty in July, with many of the nation's largest retailers posting sales increases well within their expectations.

Standouts include Saks, where demand for designer duds, accessories and fine jewelry sparked a 15.8% increase in comparable store sales. Rival luxury chain Neiman Marcus saw its sales rise 7.7%, and at Nordstrom, results increased 6.6%.

The International Council of Shopping Centers says its index rose 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. "Sales growth continued to show strength in July, which may be a good omen for the back-to-school season," Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for ICSC, says in its release. "Even with higher prices from gasoline, apparel, and food having inflated the reported sales growth by approximately 2.0 percentage points, July sales performance was still quite solid."

Kantar Retail says its index rose 4.8%, better than the 2.9% gain in July of 2010, but still much softer than the 7.1% same-store sales gain in June.