Feb. 6--Consumers worried about their finances and jobs continued to give the nation's stores the cold shoulder in January, causing average sales to decline for the fourth consecutive month.

The International Council of Shopping Centers calculated the average decline at 1.6 percent, following a 2 percent drop in December and a 2.7 percent slide in November. Retail Metrics, a Massachusetts-based research firm that also tracks retail sales, but includes more retailers in its average, put the January retreat at 1.8 percent. The figures are based on the year-over-year change in sales at stores open at least a year.

C. Britt Beemer, whose market research firm America's Research Group surveys hundreds of shoppers each week, said consumers are telling his researchers every week they are staying out of malls, searching for bargains, and waiting for sales. He also said he has been amazed by survey results in which as many as one-third of the women have said they did not buy any new clothes last year and do not plan to buy any in 2009.

"These retailers are in big trouble," Beemer said. His most recent surveys found mall visits were down 21 percent, and visits to non-mall stores fell 11 percent.

Many of the retailers who report monthly sales results recorded double-digit drops, including Neiman Marcus, Gap, J.C. Penney, Kohl's and Abercrombie & Fitch. Secaucus-based clothing retailer The Children's Place Stores Inc. said sales fell 11 percent. However, teen retailer Aeropostale, which has back offices in Wayne and often uses its store at Willowbrook Mall to test new concepts, said sales climbed 11 percent compared with January 2008.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. performed better than expected, posting a 2.1 percent sales increase, above the 1.1 percent gain forecast by Wall Street. Price club company Costco had a rougher time, reporting a drop of 2 percent.

Macy's performed better than any of its competitors in the department-store sector, reporting a drop of 4.5 percent that beat analysts' expectations for a 6.5 percent decrease. Macy's fared better than J.C. Penney (off 16.4 percent) and Nordstrom (down 11.4 percent.)

ICSC Chief Economist Michael Niemira predicted Thursday that February sales will decline by a similar amount, probably between 1 and 2 percent.

In 2008, sales rose 0.5 percent in January, and 1.9 percent in February.

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