Retail Sales Decrease 1.1% In January 2017
Retail sales in January 2017 decreased 1.1% below the $85.2 million recorded in January 2016, and when adjusting for the annual retail sales rate of inflation — measured at 1.2% in January — the volume of retail sales decreased 2.1%, according to the recently released Retail Sales Index.
“Five of the seven sectors experienced decreases in sales revenue. Retailers of motor vehicles registered the largest drop in sales receipts of 11.8%. In contrast, building materials and hardware stores recorded a gain in sales of 17.4%,” the report said.
Chart extracted from the report:
“Returning residents declared overseas purchases valued at $4.4 million, unchanged from January 2016. This contributed to a combined local and overseas spending of $88.7 million.
“Excluding Sundays, there were 25 shopping days during the month, the same as in January 2016.”
The full 2017 January Retail Sales Index is below [PDF here]:
This is NOT Good
Is anyone surprised? How many f’n days did hundreds of Bermudians spend marching and protesting? Less people working , less people spending.
Retail is shrinking simply because people in Bermuda don’t have that kind of disposable income its quite simple to understand. We pay so much money for our grocery, power, health ins, etc that their isnt money left for shopping items that are marked up over $300 percent.
we also do not sell anything unique anymore. tourists especially loved the unique UK brands once found in Trimmies and Smith’s. nothing special here anymore for tourists to spend their money on.