by Segment posts 5.7% gain for 1st 6 and 7 months of the year, showing surprising resilience amid tariff and housing challenges
WASHINGTON — As our readers well know, Home News Now offers a monthly glimpse at furniture store sales activity each month with the release of the retail sales report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
By now, they also should know that retail sales have been on a roll with 11 straight months of year-over-year increases since September.
But at this time of year, we typically also look at the numbers through the first half, or leading into the second half of the year, which also shed light on where the retail segment stands in relation to other areas of consumer spending.
Note: As the July numbers just came out earlier this month, we’ll offer a glimpse at the seven-month year-to-date activity for furniture stores and other segments.
For that period, the industry will be pleased to know that furniture store sales growth was somewhere toward the upper part of the scale, up 5.7% to $78.2 billion. By comparison, overall retail sales were up 3.8% to $4.9 trillion.
The segment with the highest growth during that period was miscellaneous store retailers, such as pet supply stores, florists and religious supply stores, up 8.2% to $100.8 billion; health and personal care stores, up 7.1% to $267.8 billion; and non-store retailers such as e-commerce specialists and catalog businesses, up 6.7% to $836.7 billion.
Falling below furniture store sales in terms of growth were: restaurants and bars, up 5.2% to $682.2 billion; motor vehicle and parts dealers, up 5% to $969.8 billion; clothing and clothing accessories stores, up 4.2% to $169.1 billion; grocery stores, up 2.7% to $583.2 billion; and general merchandise stores, up 2.4% to $517.8 billion (note: department stores, which are part of this segment, were down 2.7% to $19.8 billion).
Other segments that saw a decrease over the period were gasoline stations, down 3.6% to $358.9 billion; electronics and appliance stores, down 1.6% to $49.7 billion; building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers, down .5% to $283 billion; and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and bookstores, down .4% to $51.3 billion.
Note that for the full first six months, furniture store sales also were up 5.7% to $66.5 billion, falling behind just miscellaneous store retailers, up 7.4% to $85.3 billion; heath and personal care stores, up 7.1% to $227.8 billion; and non-store retailers, up 6.4% to $708.1 billion.
Still furniture, despite the relatively high-ticket nature of purchases, trails other segments based on total sales volume for the first seven months.
Of the 13 segments tracked by the U.S. government, its $78.2 billion in sales was just above electronics and appliance stores at $49.7 billion and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and bookstores at $51.3 billion.
By comparison, the highest revenue generator was motor vehicle and parts dealers at $969.8 billion followed by non-store retailers at $836.7 billion and restaurants and bars at $682.2 billion. In the top revenue-generating segments, furniture store sales were closest to miscellaneous store retailers, totaling just over $100 billion in sales during the period.
For the first six months, its $66.5 billion in sales also was above sporting goods, hobby and musical instrument stores at $43.6 billion and electronics and appliance stores at $42.3 billion.
The top categories in terms of sales for this period were motor vehicle and parts dealers at $825 billion; non-store retailers at $708.1 billion; and restaurants and bars at $581.4 billion. Again, among the largest revenue generating segments, it was closest to miscellaneous store retailers at $85.3 billion in sales.
Thus, we get a glimpse at where consumers are spending their hard-earned money and where furniture store sales stack up. How tariffs and a still shaky housing market impacts that remains an unknown.
Of course the increase in furniture store sales is also based on a reversal of some nearly 18 months of declines before last September. But it also shows that as furniture store sales continue to grow — which we hope continues to happen for the balance of the year — they also potentially continue to take market share in the broader economy, which is good news for just about everyone in the home furnishings industry.
