The month of May was not a bubbly one for consumers who decided to exercise their thrift gene.
The latest retail sales figures were released Friday by StatsCanada and it turns out May painted very consistent picture across our land. Nine of the ten provinces saw revenues at retail and automotive shops pull back.
Nationally, the decline was 0.8 per cent or just under one percentage point. That figure was exactly the same in Saskatchewan as retail store revenues pulled back by eight-tenths of a point in May. Compared to a year ago, that was still six per cent higher, a growth figure that is tops in the country.
And it wasn’t just falling prices as inflation declines that produced this reduction. Not only did revenues fall, so did volume. So, we were buying less at the same time prices or inflation are getting softer.
The sectors seeing the biggest reductions include auto parts – vehicle sales actually went up but parts declined – as well as jewelry, electronics and garden supplies. On the other side, book and hobby sales were up.
