New York - Chain-store sales rose a solid 2.3 percent last week as last-minute shoppers and those waylaid by winter storms made up for lost time.

The seasonally and calendar-adjusted results, reported by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs, benefitted from the two "catch-up forces," which also pushed week-over-week sales higher for the third consecutive week, ICSC said.

The trade association is projecting a 2 percent increase in chain-store sales for December, compared with a 4.6 percent decline in comp-store sales last year, and has reaffirmed its forecast for a 1 percent increase for the November through December holiday sales period, compared with a 5.6 percent decline in 2008.