Retail sales continue to rise in June

August 22nd, 2017  |  Canadian Business

In the month of June, Canadian retailers sold $1.2 billion in merchandise, marking June as the fourth straight month of growth in the Canadian retail markets.

 According to Statistics Canada sales in general merchandise stores grew by 2.9%, clothing and accessory stores by 2.7%, as well as building material and gardening supply stores by 2.2% in June. On the flip side, both car and car part sales, as well as gasoline sales dropped by 1.4% and 1.8% respectively. June marks the second month of declining sales made at gasoline stations.

Even with the drop in sales in car/car parts and gasoline however, retail sales were still up a respectable 1.1% as a whole across the country.

Similarly to the varying sales numbers in various markets, different sales numbers were seen in different provinces within Canada. British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Alberta all saw higher sales, while other provinces saw slight declines from May’s numbers.

Alberta, according to Bank of Montreal economist, Robert Kavcic, is the standout story emerging from June’s numbers. Sales in Alberta have grown by over 10% in the past year, signaling a significant turning point for the province.

"While strong fundamentals in the big-three provinces are helping to drive solid national trends, the reversal of a major headwind blowing out of Alberta has also helped in a big way,” said Kavcic.