Sales at South Korea\'s major discount outlet chains and department stores grew from a year earlier last month mostly because of holiday shopping around Lunar New Year\'s Day, the government said Thursday. The combined sales of the country\'s three major discount outlet chains rose 8.9 percent from the same period last year in February, making a significant turnaround from a 24.6 on-year drop in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The three outlet chains are Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Homeplus.