Dollar General Corp. (DG) said Thursday that sales in the five-week period ended December 29 slipped 1.3% on a same-store basis, but rose 12% overall to $644.4 million.

The Goodlettsville-based retailer attributed the decline to bad weather. The number of customer transactions fell 2.5%; the average customer ticket rose 1.3% to $9.48.

The company expects same-store sales in January to be flat to up 2% and total sales to rise 14%-16% from the year-ago period.

For the 48 week period ended December 29, same-store sales were 0.5% higher than in the comparable period in 1999.

Dollar General shares last traded on Wednesday at $19.19. Their 52-week range is $13.44-$23.19.

Dollar General operates roughly 4,900 neighborhood retail stores.