Despite a retail industry that has struggled to deal with drops in consumer traffic, one local company has posted positive sales results.

For the four weeks that ended Aug. 2, The Bon-Ton Stores' total sales increased 1.8 percent to $197.9 million compared with $194.3 million reported at the same time last year.

Comparable stores sales, or sales at locations open at least one year, grew by 0.7 percent compared with the prior year period.

"We are pleased with our July sales performance, particularly in light of the continued challenging economic environment," said Tony Buccina, vice chairman and president of merchandising. "Business was particularly strong during the latter part of the month due to our semi-annual home and back-to-school promotions. However, the consumer continues to be event-and value-driven, which pressured gross margin performance."

For the second quarter of fiscal 2008, comparable store sales decreased 5.7 percent compared to the same time last year.

Total sales for the thirteen weeks that ended Aug. 2 dropped 5 percent to $673.4 million compared with $708.6 million for the prior year period.

Year-to-date comparable store sales fell 5.1 percent.

Year-to-date total sales decreased 5 percent to $1,373.6 million compared with $1,446.2 million for the same period last year.