Canadian retail sales are up, but not clothing

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Jan 24, 2017

Canadian retail sales are on the rise, but consumers are not shopping for clothing and footwear, according to data from Statistics Canada released on Friday.
 

Canadian retail sales were up by 0.2 percent in November 2016, primarily due to higher sales in four of the seven subsectors including the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector, and the farm product subsector. Despite the increase, sales in the personal and household goods subsector were down 1.6 percent since October, to $8.2 billion. The first decrease recorded in the last four months. Textile, clothing and footwear took a hit of 2.4 percent, while toiletries, cosmetics and sundries were up 0.6 percent.
 
Still, compared to the same period last year sales are up overall by 4.7 percent in the personal and household goods subsector.

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Among the Canadian provinces, wholesale sales rose in six provinces in November, led by Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, Newfoundland and Labrador recorded a record $537 million in sales, up 40.9 percent. In dollar terms, Ontario recorded the largest decrease in November, with sales down 1.5 percent to $28.9 billion.