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ADVANCE MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES SUMMARY - OCTOBER 2011
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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for October, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $397.7 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent (±0.5%)* from the previous month and 7.2 percent (±0.7%) above October 2010. Total sales for the August through October 2011 period were up 7.6 percent (±0.5%) from the same period a year ago. The August to September 2011 percent change was unrevised from +1.1 percent (±0.3%).
Retail trade sales were up 0.6 percent (±0.5%) from September 2011, and 7.3 percent (±0.7%) above last year. Gasoline stations sales were up 15.6 percent (±1.7%) from October 2010 and nonstore retailers sales were up 11.1 percent (±2.3%) 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 November is scheduled to be released December 13, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. EST.
TABLE 1A. ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--October 2011
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)
2011 2011 2011 2010 2010
NAICS(1) Kind of Business Oct(3) Sep Aug Oct Sep
Code (a) (p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 397,666 395,533 391,074 370,790 366,417
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 328,269 326,398 324,729 305,923 302,974
Retail ....................................... 355,840 353,863 349,904 331,590 327,451
GAFO(4).......................................... (*) 98,916 98,099 94,869 94,314
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 69,397 69,135 66,345 64,867 63,443
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 62,523 62,191 59,464 58,290 56,910
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 7,522 7,577 7,489 7,273 7,328
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 8,692 8,381 8,410 8,397 8,453
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) 6,573 6,663 6,514 6,568
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) 1,808 1,747 1,883 1,885
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 25,770 25,388 25,351 24,402 23,716
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) 20,428 20,457 19,511 19,251
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 52,266 51,682 51,744 49,168 48,932
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 46,841 46,351 46,435 43,960 43,768
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) 3,711 3,685 3,573 3,538
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 23,281 23,108 23,115 22,290 22,258
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) 19,216 19,277 18,722 18,686
447 Gasoline stations................................ 45,105 45,288 44,978 39,032 37,937
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 19,076 19,216 18,896 18,032 17,684
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (S) (S) (S) (S)
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) 3,175 3,035 3,103 3,064
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) 2,316 2,287 2,222 2,190
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 7,696 7,598 7,533 7,053 7,030
452 General merchandise stores....................... 53,108 53,130 52,787 51,154 50,868
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 15,287 15,466 15,307 15,312 15,306
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(5)............... (*) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) 37,664 37,480 35,842 35,562
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) 33,013 32,844 31,353 31,105
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) 4,651 4,636 4,489 4,457
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 10,372 10,300 10,283 9,716 9,600
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 33,555 33,060 32,973 30,206 30,202
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) 25,303 25,171 23,385 23,393
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 41,826 41,670 41,170 39,200 38,966
(*) 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--October 2011
Estimates not adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences and price changes.
(In Millions of dollars and Annual Percent Change)
10 month total
% Chg. 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010
NAICS(1) Kind of Business 2011 from Oct(2) Sep Aug Oct Sep
Code 2010 (a) (p) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 3,829,762 7.9 386,133 381,852 401,864 361,750 351,696
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 3,146,567 7.5 320,454 314,513 330,101 300,321 290,020
Retail ....................................... 3,419,377 8.2 344,098 340,682 359,624 321,844 313,704
GAFO(3).......................................... (*) (*) (*) 91,840 98,897 90,681 87,029
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 683,195 10.1 65,679 67,339 71,763 61,429 61,676
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 615,401 10.6 58,709 60,263 64,221 54,734 55,032
44111 New car dealers................................ (*) (*) (*) 50,363 52,936 45,127 45,336
4413 Auto parts, acc. & tire stores.................. (*) (*) (*) 7,076 7,542 6,695 6,644
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 72,434 1.2 7,176 7,691 7,893 7,026 7,357
4421 Furniture stores................................ (*) (*) (*) 4,133 4,200 3,788 4,016
4422 Home furnishings stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 3,558 3,693 3,238 3,341
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 77,892 0.2 7,658 7,652 8,235 7,399 7,685
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) (*) (*) 5,922 6,570 5,680 5,885
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 1,730 1,665 1,719 1,800
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 252,129 5.9 25,718 24,887 26,223 24,196 23,288
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) (*) (*) 20,959 22,073 19,784 19,694
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 506,930 5.6 51,650 50,464 52,122 48,945 47,710
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 456,035 5.8 46,279 45,239 46,806 43,740 42,718
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 3,670 3,744 3,577 3,446
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 226,629 5.0 22,978 22,461 23,254 22,023 21,546
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) (*) (*) 18,659 19,296 18,572 18,107
447 Gasoline stations................................ 447,645 19.0 44,970 45,333 48,216 38,954 37,596
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 174,985 5.9 18,161 17,774 19,079 17,433 16,229
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (*) (*) 689 592 678 601
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 3,089 2,838 3,100 2,957
44814 Family clothing stores.......................... (*) (*) (*) 6,875 7,711 7,047 6,479
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) (*) (*) 2,161 2,834 2,100 2,019
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 69,046 6.1 6,580 7,241 8,573 6,150 6,594
452 General merchandise stores....................... 498,044 3.5 51,148 48,366 51,777 49,588 46,166
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 139,743 -0.8 14,396 13,711 14,829 14,503 13,604
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(4)............... (*) (*) (*) 13,973 15,102 14,712 13,813
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) (*) (*) 34,655 36,948 35,085 32,562
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) (*) (*) 30,306 32,581 30,632 28,399
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) (*) (*) 4,349 4,367 4,453 4,163
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 99,021 8.4 10,587 10,387 10,648 9,922 9,591
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 311,427 12.8 31,793 31,087 31,841 28,779 28,266
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) (*) (*) 23,886 24,819 22,146 21,989
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 410,385 5.4 42,035 41,170 42,240 39,906 37,992
(*) 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--October 2011
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.)(*)
Oct Sep
2011 2011
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Sep Oct Aug Sep
Code 2011 2010 2011 2010
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +0.5 +7.2 +1.1 +7.9
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +0.6 +7.3 +0.5 +7.7
Retail .................................. +0.6 +7.3 +1.1 +8.1
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... +0.4 +7.0 +4.2 +9.0
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers............... +0.5 +7.3 +4.6 +9.3
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. -0.7 +3.4 +1.2 +3.4
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... +3.7 +3.5 -0.3 -0.9
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers +1.5 +5.6 +0.1 +7.1
445 Food & beverage stores........................... +1.1 +6.3 -0.1 +5.6
4451 Grocery stores.................................. +1.1 +6.6 -0.2 +5.9
446 Health & personal care stores.................... +0.7 +4.4 0.0 +3.8
447 Gasoline stations................................ -0.4 +15.6 +0.7 +19.4
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... -0.7 +5.8 +1.7 +8.7
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ +1.3 +9.1 +0.9 +8.1
452 General merchandise stores....................... 0.0 +3.8 +0.6 +4.4
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... -1.2 -0.2 +1.0 +1.0
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... +0.7 +6.8 +0.2 +7.3
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +1.5 +11.1 +0.3 +9.5
722 Food services & drinking places.................. +0.4 +6.7 +1.2 +6.9
(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--October 2011
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.)(*)
Oct Sep
2011 2011
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Sep Oct Aug Sep
Code 2011 2010 2011 2010
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +1.1 +6.7 -5.0 +8.6
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +1.9 +6.7 -4.7 +8.4
Retail .................................. +1.0 +6.9 -5.3 +8.6
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... -2.5 +6.9 -6.2 +9.2
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................ -2.6 +7.3 -6.2 +9.5
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. -6.7 +2.1 -2.6 +4.5
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... +0.1 +3.5 -7.1 -0.4
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers +3.3 +6.3 -5.1 +6.9
445 Food & beverage stores........................... +2.4 +5.5 -3.2 +5.8
4451 Grocery stores.................................. +2.3 +5.8 -3.3 +5.9
446 Health & personal care stores.................... +2.3 +4.3 -3.4 +4.2
447 Gasoline stations................................ -0.8 +15.4 -6.0 +20.6
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... +2.2 +4.2 -6.8 +9.5
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ -9.1 +7.0 -15.5 +9.8
452 General merchandise stores....................... +5.8 +3.1 -6.6 +4.8
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... +5.0 -0.7 -7.5 +0.8
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... +1.9 +6.7 -2.5 +8.3
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +2.3 +10.5 -2.4 +10.0
722 Food services & drinking places.................. +2.1 +5.3 -2.5 +8.4
(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--October 2011 (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.