Retail Sales Fall 2.7% In June 2011
Retail sales in June 2011 declined by 2.7% below the $93.1 million recorded in June 2010. Consumer demand weakened for five of the seven retail sectors.
Motor vehicles stores experienced the largest decline recording a 24.9% drop in sales. In contrast, retailers of service stations and apparel stores recorded increases of 7% and 3.3%, respectively.
Residents returning to the Island declared overseas purchases of goods valued at $4.9 million during June 2011. This was 14%lower than the $5.7 million declared in June 2010. Combined local and overseas spending totalled $95.5 million.
After adjusting for the annual retail sales rate of inflation, measured at 3.8% in June 2011, the volume of retail sales fell by 6.3%.
The full 4-page report is below, click ‘Fullscreen’ on bottom for greater clarity:
Not a pretty picture my friends…
This is what happens when you rape the middle class. How is catering to the rich going Bermuda?
What’s that, you finally realize it is the MIDDLE CLASS that fuels the economy. Glad you finally got your econ101 worked out.
Well what the heck do you expect! I went shopping for a new bedroom set. One nightstand was $395. I was able to go online and order 2 nightstands, a bed frame with a headboard, and a dresser for $349.50! It will be around $600 when I ship it in and pay duty. So why in the world would I buy from Bermuda? Why is this even news? You can’t even go and buy the plastic drawer containers without spending $80…for something that is $20 in the U.S. Even if you factor in shipping and duty, BDA is still too expensive. I am sorry, but I don’t buy ANYTHING on this island! Only food!
Sad, but true! I do try to see what town has to offer, but more often than not, I end up shopping online! Three reasons: quality, variety, price. I have to make my $ go further too….
You do know you are only hurting yourself and other Bermudians? Less shopping here will only mean, less people needed to work the retail shops. YOU WILL FEEL IT, IN TIME!!!!!
If prices were more fair, then quantity sold would increase and nobody would be out of job. Why does everything close between 5-6 when people are getting OFF work to shop????? That is illogical no matter what excuses one comes up with. Ain’t buying the bs anymore. It’s the STORES faults for raping Bermudians with their ridiculous, because we can, prices. Remember you can hardly even factor shipping as a significant cost to them as they OWN the containers and can fill them to the brim and costs is the same. AND duty is ONLY paid on cost NOT what the store sells it for. I understand things are more costly in Bermuda DUH. BUT they are more costly than they need to be to still make a nice profit. Obviously this doesn’t apply to every store and every item here, but it applies the majority of things sold here.
There are a few model resellers on island. M&M and Joshua Bate Trading come to mind. Where there is competition, there’s value. Price a Mac computer away, and do the math on the costs of importing it, then shop Hamilton. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you are tight on cash, do your homework. You’ll not find it’s always as you assume . . .
I don’t buy BDA either.If i could buy my food online i would. unfortunately i was one of those people who bought a bedroom set for 4k. here in Bermuda and that was the cheapest. And the companies aren’t competitive and they sell the same thing
When you see an item in Bermuda priced at $300 when you can get it in the states for $89. That is a huge problem. I would like to buy Bermuda but the price is just too high.