Consumer or retail spending has been wobbly for most of this year. Right across the board, we’ve either had no gains or declines in this country. And Saskatchewan has been tracking quite closely to the national trends.
But then July came along and everything went the other way. Retail sales rose in eight provinces, for many it was the first time in three or four months.
What’s been behind this story is activity on new vehicle lots. We’ve been holding back on buying new cars or trucks and, given the size of these purchases, they have been something of a wet blanket on overall spending numbers.
There has been discussion in economic circles on this one….is that we have stopped buying new, stopped buying cars and trucks altogether or new vehicles are being built better and they simply last longer.
Whatever the factor in July the story changed. We were buying vehicles. That pushed Saskatchewan retail spending up nearly a full percentage point in a month.
Oh, and the other big thing pushing these numbers……cannabis retailing is getting legs.
