Retail Sales Increase 2.2% In July 2017
Retail sales in July 2017 increased 2.2% above the $104.0 million recorded in July 2016 and when adjusting for the annual retail sales rate of inflation – measured at 1.5% in July – the volume of retail sales increased 0.7%, according to the recently released Retail Sales Index.
“Five of the seven sectors experienced increases in sales revenue with retailers of motor vehicles recording the largest increase in sales receipts of 14.9%. In contrast, liquor stores registered the largest decline in sales of 9.5%,” the report said.
Chart extracted from the report:
“Returning residents declared overseas purchases valued at $3.4 million, which was 22.7% lower than July 2016. This contributed to a combined local and overseas spending of $109.7 million.
“Excluding Sundays, there were 26 shopping days during the month, two more than July 2016.”
The full 2017 July Retail Sales Index is below [PDF here]:
Looks like America’s Cup, while definitely lifting the economy, did a lot of shifting – keeping resident’s spending home and interestingly not drinking store bought liquor. Shows how far our economy still has to go.