While the retail sales figures today may have bested the gloomy expectations of analysts, overall, the story was more of the same: Discount retailers are extending their gains while consumers continue to siphon dollars away from department stores and mall-based apparel chains.

What portion of the $50 billion the government has sent out in stimulus payments that didn't go toward filling gas tanks went to the likes of Wal-Mart, TJX, and Costco, which all reported larger-than-anticipated sales growth for the month of May.  

Conversely, sales for Saks, Gap, Limited Brands, and American Eagle Outfitters all tumbled more than expected.

Nordstrom appeared to be the one department-store retailer to buck the trend, posting a better-than-expected 10.9 percent rise in sales for the month.

At first glance, that seems very surprising given that the chain has been hard hit in recent months as belt-tightening climbs up the income scale, with sales down 9.1 percent in March and then 3.8 percent more in April.

But investors who sent Nordstrom's stock up 2.4 percent in morning trading today would do well to remember what accounted for the uptick: Nordstrom shifted its popular semiannual sale for women and children forward two weeks to begin on May 21. Last year's sale started on June 6.

Nordstrom said that it made the change in order to attract shoppers over Memorial Day weekend, which is typically a popular time for sale shopping. Judging by today's results, the strategy seems to have worked.

But depending on that kind of discounting is a Band-Aid rather than a cure, which Nordstrom will have to use sparingly if they want to protect their margins. The department-store chain will feel the sting of the calendar shift come next month: Nordstrom is projecting an 18 percent to 22 percent drop in same-store sales for June.