Monthly sales report shows mixed results
Sales at companies classified as NAICS 444 – building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers—rose slightly in February, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
A report issued Wednesday showed NAICS 444 sales, on an unadjusted basis, were an estimated $33.754 billion in February. That’s up 0.7 percent from $33.529 billion in the same month last year.
Adjusted for seasonal variation and for holiday and trading day differences, but not for price changes, February sales for the broad hardware and building supply category were down 0.1 percent compared to January.
Meanwhile, sales for the retail subset of hardware stores (NAICS 44413) showed year-over-year gains for January. (Note: January is the latest available month for NAICS 44413 sales statistics.) For the month of January, on an unadjusted basis, hardware stores generated $2.93 billion in sales, up from $2.73 billion in January of 2022.
The Census Bureau reported overall U.S. retail and food services sales for February 2023, on an adjusted basis, were $697.9 billion, down 0.4 percent from the previous month, but up 5.4 percent above February 2022.
Other retail categories generated the following year-over-year changes, according to the Census Bureau:
• Food services and drinking places: up 15.3 percent
• Nonstore retailers: up 8.5 percent
•. Health and personal care stores: up 8.0 percent
• Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores: up 3.9 percent
• Electronics and appliance stories: down 2.8 percent
The Census Bureau’s monthly retail sales report for March will be published April 14.
