The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $344.4 billion, a decrease of 1.1% (±0.5%) from the previous month and 9.4% (±0.7%) below March 2008.


Sales in the Sporting goods, book and music stores sector were down less than 1% in March 2009 versus February 2009 at $7.3 billion and were down about 1.3% versus March 2008.

 

Total sales for the January through March 2009 period were down 8.8 percent (±0.5%) from the same period a year ago. The January 2009 to February 2009 percent change was revised from -0.1% (±0.5%)* to +0.3% (±0.3%)*.

Retail trade sales were down 1.1% (±0.7%) from February 2009 and 10.7% (±0.7%) below last year. Gasoline stations sales were down 34.0% (±1.5%) from March 2008 and motor vehicle and parts dealers sales were down 23.5% (±2.3%) from last year.

 

ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS–March 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                      Mar(3)   Feb      Jan      Mar      Feb

   Code                                                              (a)      (p)      (r)      (r)      (r)

                Retail & food services, total………………..   344,380  348,359  347,311  380,171  378,191

                 Total (excl. motor vehicle &  parts)…………   288,203  290,844  288,038  306,746  304,410

                   Retail …………………………………   305,830  309,246  308,613  342,444  340,684

                GAFO(4)……………………………………       (*)   96,663   95,550   98,272   97,271

   441          Motor vehicle & parts dealers………………..    56,177   57,515   59,273   73,425   73,781

   4411,4412     Auto & other motor veh. dealers……………..    49,659   50,926   52,720   67,011   67,405

   442          Furniture & home furnishings stores…………..     8,231    8,370    8,326    9,467    9,445

   443          Electronics & appliance stores………………..    8,535    9,066    9,007    9,427    9,199

   44311,13      Appl., T.V. &  camera………………………       (*)    7,279    7,254    7,609    7,375

   44312         Computer & software stores………………….       (*)    1,787    1,753    1,818    1,824

   444          Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers    24,488   24,645   24,762   26,971   27,538

   4441          Building mat. & supplies dealers…………….       (*)   20,585   20,590   22,998   23,608

   445          Food & beverage stores………………………    49,469   49,239   49,308   48,671   48,367

   4451          Grocery stores…………………………….    44,123   43,931   44,063   43,649   43,400

   4453          Beer, wine & liquor stores………………….       (*)    3,578    3,591    3,452    3,421

   446          Health & personal care stores………………..    21,124   21,037   20,910   20,233   20,260

   44611         Pharmacies & drug stores……………………       (*)   17,320   17,198   16,765   16,762

   447          Gasoline stations…………………………..    27,896   28,339   27,474   42,253   41,523

   448          Clothing & clothing accessories stores………..    17,939   18,266   17,775   18,901   18,655

   44811         Men's clothing stores………………………       (*)      (S)      (S)      (S)      (S)

   44812         Women's clothing stores…………………….       (*)    3,044    2,982    3,349    3,359

   4482          Shoe stores……………………………….       (*)    2,215    2,087    2,201    2,221

   451          Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores…….     7,287    7,355    7,350    7,396    7,311

   452          General merchandise stores…………………..    50,146   50,229   49,643   49,509   49,204

   4521          Department stores (ex. L.D.)………………..    16,057   16,106   15,965   16,990   17,103

   4521          Department stores (incl. L.D.)(5)……………       (*)     (NA)     (NA)     (NA)     (NA)

   4529          Other general merchandise stores…………….       (*)   34,123   33,678   32,519   32,101

   45291          Warehouse clubs & supercenters……………..       (*)   30,253   29,954   28,875   28,385

   45299          All other gen. merchandise stores…………..       (*)    3,870    3,724    3,644    3,716

   453          Miscellaneous store retailers………………..     9,519    9,736    9,214    9,867    9,715

   454          Nonstore retailers………………………….    25,019   25,449   25,571   26,324   25,686

   4541          Electronic shopping & mail-order houses………       (*)   18,264   18,301   17,912   17,504

   722          Food services & drinking places………………    38,550   39,113   38,698   37,727   37,507


(*) 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/epcd/www/naics.html (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/mrts/www/mrts.html (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.