New York ? The arrival of cold weather sent consumers on a buying spree in October, giving retailers some hope that the holiday season might be better than expected.

As the nation’s largest retailers reported their monthly sales on Thursday, discounters and moderate-priced stores fared the best. Wal-Mart Stores and Kohl’s Corp. announced results that exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Even mall-based apparel stores performed well, particularly Gap, which reported a double-digit gain in sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales. That was the company’s first monthly increase in more than a year.

Same-store sales are considered the best gauge of a retailer’s health.

But department stores again languished, except for J.C. Penney and Nordstrom.

“Is the retail industry finally on the mend? It appears that, tentatively, the answer could be yes,” said Michael Niemira, vice president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd., whose preliminary same-store sales tally was up 3.1 percent for the month. That was a percentage point above Niemira’s expectations.

Here are selected October results for leading retailers:

• Wal-Mart, same-store sales up 3.7 percent; total sales up 11.3 percent.
• Gap, same-store sales up 11 percent; total sales up 17 percent.
• Kohl’s, same-store sales up 18.3 percent; total sales up 38.4 percent.
• Sears reported a same-store sales decline of 10 percent, much worse than the 6.6 percent decline Wall Street had forecast. Total sales were down 7.5 percent.
• Target Corp., same-store sales up 1.5 percent; total sales up 9.8 percent.