NAICS 444 sales keep climbing
Sales at retailers classified as building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers hit $42,523,000,000 in May, a month that saw another double-digit percent sales gain.
Compared to April 2020, the May figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau show sales at NAICS 444 retailers increased 10.9% over April. And compared to the same month last year, the latest industry sales were up 16.4%.
The report comes as hardware stores and building supply dealers have benefited from their status as essential businesses. Plus, retailers have reported that pandemic-induced stay-at-home orders have led to a rise in home improvement projects.
The reopening of retail has led to some wild percentage swings in the May monthly sales report. For instance, clothing stores up 188% over April; Sporting goods stores up 88.2%; and furniture and home furnishing retailers were up 89.7%.
[For the full monthly sales report, click here.]
Nonstore retailers continued their brisk business in May, up 30.8% over the same month last year, and up 9.0% over April.
So far this year on a non-adjusted basis, NAICS 444 retailers (building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers) produced the following monthly sales:
Overall, on an adjusted basis U.S. retail and food services sales for the month of May were up 17.7% from the previous month, and down 6.1% from May of 2019. Total retail trade sales were up 16.8% from April, and down 1.4% from the same month last year.