PARIS (Reuters) - France's summer sales season had gone well, despite a fall in sales from last year, the head of a federation representing the main French department stores said on Friday.
"The period has not been spectacular but, on the other hand, it hasn't been bad either. Sales ought to have risen between 1 to 1.5 percent, not as good as last year," said Jacques Perilliat, the president of the Union du Commerce de Centre-Ville (UCV) federation told Reuters.
The UCV represents tourist hot-spots such as PPR's Printemps store, Galeries Lafayette and LVMH's Bon Marche store on the Parisian Left Bank.
Other stores which it represents include Casino's Monoprix, FNAC (also owned by PPR), C&A, BHV and Virgin.
The summer sales last six weeks. They are due to end on Aug. 2 in Paris and on Aug. 5 in the rest of France.
Despite gloom concerning the global economy and France's own economy, the federation remained relatively upbeat.
"Given the context of consumer pessimism, we're not doing too badly," said UCV secretary-general Jean-Luc Barthares.
Last month, official data showed French consumer confidence had dropped to a record low for a seventh consecutive month in July, with industrial demand set to slow again in the third quarter.
(Reporting by Noelle Mennella; Editing by David Holmes)