March sales at U.S. retail chains probably dropped modestly, held back by the combination of a late Easter and higher gasoline prices, Reuters reported.

Analysts expected department store companies such as Kohl’s Corp. to post the largest declines after tallying large gains a year earlier.

March sales at stores open at least a year are likely to show a 0.9 percent fall across 25 chains tracked by Thomson Reuters. Same-store sales jumped 9 percent in 2010, when Easter was on April 4. This year, the holiday falls on April 24.

“There is definitely a lot going on right now in terms of the inflation that we’re seeing from fuel prices,” said retail strategist John Long of consulting firm Kurt Salmon, in an interview with Reuters. “That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.”

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said sales rose 2.8 percent in the week that ended April 2. The ICSC said it expected same-store sales to be between flat and up 2 percent in March.