Check out an extra early Easter meaning extra difficulty for retailers who are already struggling.

Easter fell on March 23 this year — compared with April 8 last year — making it the earliest Easter since 1913, according to the National Retail Federation.

Retailers count on the Easter holiday to boost traffic in their stores and spur early sales of spring clothes, open-toed shoes and, of course, candy.

But this year, the extra early Easter meant it was too frigid in many parts of the country for consumers to think about wearing light-weight dresses or sandals.

Weather Trends International reported that national temperatures last week were 6.1 degrees colder than last year, according to the ICSC. That made it the 4th coldest and 2nd wettest middle March week in 16-plus years, and it was also the 3rd snowiest middle March week in 16 years.

So, with money already tight, it looks like many shoppers skipped buying an Easter outfit this year.

The ICSC-UBS retail chain store sales index declined by 0.4 percent for week ending March 22,  reversing the prior week’s rise.

“Customer traffic improved due to Easter, but sales were subdued–in part–because of cool weather and soft apparel demand and accounting for the Easter shift,” the ICSC said in its report.

For the month of March, ICSC continues to expect a weak comparable-store sales performance around 1 percent on a year-over-year basis.   

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(Photo: Reuters)