*******************************************************************************
ADVANCE MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES SUMMARY - August 2009
*******************************************************************************
Special Notice - Beginning with the December 11, 2009 release for November 2009, estimates in this release will be based on a new sample. A new sample for the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey is selected about once every two and a half years. For further information on the sample revision, see our website at http://www.census.gov/retail.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $351.4 billion, an increase of 2.7 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month, but 5.3 percent (±0.7%) below August 2008. Total sales for the June through August 2009 period were down 7.6 percent (±0.3%) from the same period a year ago. The June to July 2009 percent change was revised from -0.1 percent (±0.5%)* to -0.2 percent (±0.2%)*.
Retail trade sales were up 3.0 percent (±0.7%) from July 2009, but 6.0 percent (±0.7%) below last year. Gasoline stations sales were down 26.7 percent (±1.5%) from August 2008 and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers were down 13.6 percent (±2.0%) from last year.
The advance estimates are based on a subsample of the Census Bureau’s full retail and food services sample. A stratified random sampling method is used to select approximately 5,000 retail and food services firms whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe of over three million retail and food services firms. Responding firms account for approximately 65% of the MARTS dollar volume estimate. For an explanation of the measures of sampling variability included in this report, please see the Reliability of Estimates section on the last page of this publication.
* The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different than zero.
The Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services for September is scheduled to be released October 14, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
TABLE 1A. ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--August 2009
Estimates adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.
(Total sales estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(2)
(In Millions of dollars)
2009 2009 2009 2008 2008
NAICS(1) Kind of Business Aug(3) Jul Jun Aug Jul
Code (a) (p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 351,418 342,280 342,912 371,134 374,103
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 287,197 284,191 285,670 306,263 310,890
Retail ....................................... 313,192 304,159 304,728 333,179 336,079
GAFO(4).......................................... (*) 92,227 92,560 97,010 98,629
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 64,221 58,089 57,242 64,871 63,213
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 57,833 51,666 50,771 58,321 56,660
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 7,576 7,698 7,767 8,691 8,874
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 8,342 8,253 8,333 9,308 9,610
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) 6,465 6,508 7,421 7,664
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) 1,788 1,825 1,887 1,946
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 23,387 23,674 24,102 27,076 27,637
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) 19,592 19,905 22,827 23,364
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 49,159 48,928 49,076 49,689 49,429
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 43,849 43,706 43,842 44,462 44,210
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) 3,422 3,427 3,513 3,509
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 21,130 21,042 21,133 20,535 20,538
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) 17,512 17,561 16,979 16,973
447 Gasoline stations................................ 31,239 29,727 30,185 42,594 44,356
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 17,502 17,100 17,062 18,441 18,541
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (S) (S) (S) (S)
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) 2,865 2,904 3,164 3,211
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) 2,154 2,132 2,310 2,305
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 7,320 7,153 7,196 7,351 7,449
452 General merchandise stores....................... 49,635 48,843 48,976 49,967 50,784
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 15,772 15,407 15,491 16,554 17,117
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(5)............... (*) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) 33,436 33,485 33,413 33,667
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) 29,596 29,633 29,653 29,836
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) 3,840 3,852 3,760 3,831
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 9,464 9,448 9,441 9,783 10,156
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 24,217 24,204 24,215 24,873 25,492
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) 17,382 17,315 16,824 17,183
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 38,226 38,121 38,184 37,955 38,024
(*) Advance estimates are not available for this kind of business.
(NA) Not available (S) Suppressed (a) Advance estimate (p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(1) For a full description of the NAICS codes used in this table, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics
(2) Estimates are concurrently adjusted for seasonal variation and for holiday and trading day differences, but not for price changes. Concurrent seasonal adjustment
uses all available unadjusted estimates as input to the X-12 ARIMA program. The factors derived from the program are used in calculating all seasonally
adjusted estimates shown in this table. Year-to-date seasonally adjusted sales estimates are not tabulated. Adjustment factors and explanatory material can be found
on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/retail
(3) Advance estimates are based on early reports obtained from a small sample of firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample.
All other estimates are from the MRTS sample.
(4) GAFO represents firms which specialize in department store types of merchandise and is comprised of furniture & home furnishings (442), electronics & appliances (443),
clothing & clothing accessories (448), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music (451), general merchandise (452), office supply, stationery, and gift stores (4532).
(5) Estimates include data for leased departments operated within department stores. Data for this line are not included in broader kind-of-business totals.
TABLE 1B. ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--August 2009
Estimates not adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences and price changes.
(In Millions of dollars and Annual Percent Change)
8 month total
% Chg. 2009 2009 2009 2008 2008
NAICS(1) Kind of Business 2009 from Aug(2) Jul Jun Aug Jul
Code 2008 (a) (p) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 2,710,755 -9.1 362,278 354,438 351,418 384,798 385,909
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 2,233,433 -7.2 292,178 289,719 289,242 314,306 315,525
Retail ....................................... 2,403,821 -10.2 322,599 314,640 312,547 344,528 346,516
GAFO(3).......................................... (*) (*) (*) 89,203 88,330 99,918 94,238
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 477,322 -16.7 70,100 64,719 62,176 70,492 70,384
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 425,119 -18.4 63,501 57,866 55,239 63,687 63,346
44111 New car dealers................................ (*) (*) (*) 45,553 42,530 50,978 49,741
4413 Auto parts, acc. & tire stores.................. (*) (*) (*) 6,853 6,937 6,805 7,038
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 60,858 -13.7 7,894 8,006 7,728 9,143 9,122
4421 Furniture stores................................ (*) (*) (*) 4,247 4,148 5,007 4,754
4422 Home furnishings stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 3,759 3,580 4,136 4,368
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 63,724 -9.8 8,219 7,738 7,791 9,199 8,983
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) (*) (*) 6,077 6,085 7,354 7,158
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 1,661 1,706 1,845 1,825
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 196,579 -12.0 23,407 26,272 29,054 27,185 30,743
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) (*) (*) 21,982 23,010 23,786 26,214
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 388,586 -0.1 49,759 50,834 48,819 50,775 50,934
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 348,330 -0.5 44,507 45,323 43,579 45,440 45,536
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 3,682 3,437 3,647 3,691
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 166,970 3.0 20,707 20,895 21,070 20,165 20,312
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) (*) (*) 17,389 17,368 16,588 16,786
447 Gasoline stations................................ 233,327 -32.4 34,176 33,473 33,204 46,640 49,280
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 128,393 -6.6 17,927 16,285 15,717 19,049 17,377
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (*) (*) 678 730 749 710
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 2,627 2,840 3,069 2,906
44814 Family clothing stores.......................... (*) (*) (*) 6,632 6,020 7,562 7,024
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) (*) (*) 2,087 1,940 2,878 2,206
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 54,145 -2.3 8,352 6,767 6,800 8,498 6,950
452 General merchandise stores....................... 375,710 -1.1 49,823 47,355 47,338 50,374 48,611
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 114,486 -7.4 15,720 14,205 14,234 16,507 15,478
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(4)............... (*) (*) (*) 14,574 14,594 17,009 15,937
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) (*) (*) 33,150 33,104 33,867 33,133
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) (*) (*) 29,448 29,337 30,276 29,448
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) (*) (*) 3,702 3,767 3,591 3,685
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 74,041 -4.9 9,398 9,589 9,930 9,899 10,315
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 184,166 -4.5 22,837 22,707 22,920 23,109 23,505
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) (*) (*) 16,635 16,761 16,185 16,461
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 306,934 1.1 39,679 39,798 38,871 40,270 39,393
(*) Advance estimates are not available for this kind of business.
(NA) Not available (a) Advance estimate (p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(1) For a full description of the NAICS codes used in this table, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics
(2) Advance estimates are based on early reports obtained from a small sample of firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample.
All other estimates are from the MRTS sample.
(3) GAFO represents firms which specialize in department store types of merchandise and is comprised of furniture & home furnishings (442), electronics & appliances (443),
clothing & clothing accessories (448), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music (451), general merchandise (452), office supply, stationery, and gift stores (4532).
(4) Estimates include data for leased departments operated within department stores. Data for this line are not included in broader kind-of-business totals.
TABLE 2A. ESTIMATED CHANGE IN SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--August 2009
Estimates adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey,
Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(*)
Aug Jul
2009 2009
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Jul Aug Jun Jul
Code 2009 2008 2009 2008
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +2.7 -5.3 -0.2 -8.5
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +1.1 -6.2 -0.5 -8.6
Retail .................................. +3.0 -6.0 -0.2 -9.5
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... +10.6 -1.0 +1.5 -8.1
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers............... +11.9 -0.8 +1.8 -8.8
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. -1.6 -12.8 -0.9 -13.3
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... +1.1 -10.4 -1.0 -14.1
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers -1.2 -13.6 -1.8 -14.3
445 Food & beverage stores........................... +0.5 -1.1 -0.3 -1.0
4451 Grocery stores.................................. +0.3 -1.4 -0.3 -1.1
446 Health & personal care stores.................... +0.4 +2.9 -0.4 +2.5
447 Gasoline stations................................ +5.1 -26.7 -1.5 -33.0
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... +2.4 -5.1 +0.2 -7.8
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ +2.3 -0.4 -0.6 -4.0
452 General merchandise stores....................... +1.6 -0.7 -0.3 -3.8
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... +2.4 -4.7 -0.5 -10.0
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... +0.2 -3.3 +0.1 -7.0
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +0.1 -2.6 0.0 -5.1
722 Food services & drinking places.................. +0.3 +0.7 -0.2 +0.3
(p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(*) Estimates shown in this table are derived from adjusted estimates provided in Table 1A of this report.
TABLE 2B. ESTIMATED CHANGE IN SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--August 2009
Data not adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences and price changes.
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey,
Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(*)
Aug Jul
2009 2009
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Jul Aug Jun Jul
Code 2009 2008 2009 2008
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +2.2 -5.9 +0.9 -8.2
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +0.8 -7.0 +0.2 -8.2
Retail .................................. +2.5 -6.4 +0.7 -9.2
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... +8.3 -0.6 +4.1 -8.0
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................ +9.7 -0.3 +4.8 -8.7
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. -1.4 -13.7 +3.6 -12.2
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... +6.2 -10.7 -0.7 -13.9
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers -10.9 -13.9 -9.6 -14.5
445 Food & beverage stores........................... -2.1 -2.0 +4.1 -0.2
4451 Grocery stores.................................. -1.8 -2.1 +4.0 -0.5
446 Health & personal care stores.................... -0.9 +2.7 -0.8 +2.9
447 Gasoline stations................................ +2.1 -26.7 +0.8 -32.1
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... +10.1 -5.9 +3.6 -6.3
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ +23.4 -1.7 -0.5 -2.6
452 General merchandise stores....................... +5.2 -1.1 0.0 -2.6
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... +10.7 -4.8 -0.2 -8.2
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... -2.0 -5.1 -3.4 -7.0
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +0.6 -1.2 -0.9 -3.4
722 Food services & drinking places.................. -0.3 -1.5 +2.4 +1.0
(p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(*) Estimates shown in this table are derived from not adjusted estimates provided in Table 1B of this report.
SOURCE: Advance Monthly Sales for Retail Trade and Food Services--AUGUST 2009 (Press Release available without charge from Public Information Office, Bureau of the Census Washington, D.C. 20233). Survey methodology and measures of sampling variability are documented in the Advance Press Release. Questions concerning this report should be directed to Mr. Timothy Winters (301) 763-2713.