Moving annual total (MAT) apparel sales across Stockland centres hit $384 million to March 31 this year, which is down slightly on prior periods.
In a trading update today by the property management firm, Stockland confirmed that MAT growth in apparel was actually down by 0.8 per cent, and down 0.7 per cent in comp sales growth and down 1.1 per cent in the third quarter of FY26 compared to the same time last year.
It is the only key specialty category covered by Stockland that saw MAT sales slip.
The strongest category in the specialty space was food retail, which was up 8.8 per cent in MAT terms, with MAT sales hitting $135 million. Food catering followed, with MAT growth up 7.4 per cent.
Homewares was more subdued, with MAT growth of just 0.7 per cent to $52 million, while retail services (think hairdressers), reporting modest growth of 5.1 per cent in MAT terms, hitting $259 million.
Total sales across all categories grew by 4.4 per cent in MAT terms, with supermarkets leading the growth up 4.6 per cent to $1.7 billion. Total MAT sales hit just over $5 billion.
Both department stores and discount department stores combined had a modest MAT growth of 3.6 per cent, hitting $614 million, with mini majors (Rebel, Best & Less, etc), up 4.4 per cent to $739 million.
Stockland manages 19 town centres across Australia, which tend to be located in more suburban areas across Australia.