DALLAS, May 4, 2006/ --- While discounters showed all positive increases for April, department stores showed mixed results for April with the very lucrative Easter sales season.

Dallas-based JCPenney reported sales of $1,369 million for April, a 3.2% increase from $2,742.8 million during the same period last year, with comparable store basis increasing 2.6%, which is in line with the company guidance of single digit increase.

According to the announcement, the southeast and western regions of the country continue to generate the strongest sales results, with the best divisional performance coming from children's, family shoes, and men's apparel.

Wisconsin-based Kohl Corporation did better with a 13.4% increase to $1,136.4 million, compared to $938.7 during the same period last year. On a comparable store basis, sales increased 13.4 percent.

With 749 stores in 43 states during the April reporting period, compared to 669 stores in 40 sates at the same time last year, the sales performance is in line with expectations.

Birmingham-based Saks Incorporated did not fare very well, posting sales of $309.4 million for April, compared to $516.3 million during the same period last year, a 40.1% decrease. Good news is that the company’s comparable store sales increased 2.2%.

Federated Department Stores, Inc, which owns Macy’s and Robinson’s May reported reported total sales of $1.878 billion for April, an increase of 60.2% compared to total sales of $1.173 billion in the same period last year.

On a same-store basis, Federated's April sales were down -0.8%, which is above the company's guidance for a sales decline of -2.5% to -3.5%.

In a different release, Federated announced that Macerich would acquire 11 of its stores in Arizona, California and Connecticut. The stores are among 80 duplicate locations nationwide Federated previously announced for divestiture as a result of its acquisition of The May Department Stores Company.