Many retailers experienced a disappointing July as the benefit of the government stimulus checks ended and consumers dealing with high gas and food prices shifted toward buying necessities and away from nonessentials like clothing, the Associated Press reported.

A sales tally by Thomson Financial shows that six of the retailers it tracks beat estimates and 11 fell short of expectations.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted a 3 percent gain in same-store sales in July, slightly less than the 3.4 percent increase analysts expected. If gasoline sales were included in the results, the company would have had a same-store sales gain of 3.7 percent. Wal-Mart projected that same-store sales will slow to a 1 to 2 percent gain in August as money from stimulus checks dries up.

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 10 percent rise in same-store sales, beating estimates of 7.8 percent. Excluding gas, same-store sales were up 6 percent.

Limited Brands Inc. reported a 5 percent drop in same-store sales, which was better than the 7.4 percent decrease analysts expected, and Pacific Sunware of California Inc. had a 4 percent drop in same-store sales, worse than the 0.4 percent predicted.