Retailers say Sept. sales up to par.

Retailers say Sept. sales up to par

In an informal CARIBBEAN BUSINESS survey of several major Puerto Rico retailers, September retail sales were said to be higher than those of the same period last year. Based upon the improvement retailers have seen since late summer, projections for the upcoming Christmas season continue to be positive.

"Our sales really began picking up in August," said Mike Cote, operations and marketing manager at JC Penney in Puerto Rico. In August, he said, the department store chain had a double-digit increase in sales in big-ticket items, compared to the same month last year. During the last half of August, JC Penney had a furniture …