It seems we lost our party spirit as the summer came to a close.
New figures from StatsCan show sales in bars and taverns were holding up quite well through June and July but fell sharply – about 10 per cent in August.
While many economists had speculated that we should probably expect higher interest rates to cut into discretionary spending as people align their budgets to cope with rising mortgage and rent payments. But that does not appear to be the case in this report as top line sales for restaurants remained strong in August.
Basically, spending on liquor fell but not on food. August bar receipts fell back to levels we were seeing back in April but restaurants were enjoying steadily rising revenues, no doubt partly the result of higher menu prices as they cope with inflation in their supply chains.
And, when compared to national figures, Saskatchewan holds up quite well. Overall revenues across the country fell about one per cent in August and liquor spending was down only marginally.
