Hardware store sales ahead of last year

The latest tally from the U.S. Census shows hardware stores saw a sales decline in June compared with the previous month, but a sales increase from the previous year.

The Census Bureau's Monthly Retail Trade Report shows the unadjusted sales for NAICS code 44413 dealers -- or hardware stores -- in July was $1.756 billion on an unadjusted basis. That's a decline of 8.4% from $1.197 billion reported in June.

However, unadjusted 44413 sales in July were up 5.3% compared with the same month last year.

July is the latest month of available data for the 44413 stores.

The Monthly Retail Trade Report was released Wednesday along with the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Report, which showed total U.S. retail sales 7.2% ahead of last year's pace.