Retail trade sales, after adjustments, amounted to $461.9
billion in August, up 0.6% from last month and 4.6% from last year. Motor
vehicle and parts dealers sales totaled $106.1 billion, reflecting increases of
1.8% and 6.8% from last month and last year, respectively.
Furniture and home furnishing stores sales dipped 0.5% from July to $9.71 billion, but rose 0.1% from last August. Electronics and appliance stores sales remained flat in August compared to July at $8.19 billion but dipped 3.5% from August 2018.
Sales from food and beverage stores totaled $65.7 billion, down 0.2% from July and up 4.3% from last August. Health and personal care stores sales amounted to $30 billion, an increase of 0.7% from July 2019 and 3.7% from August 2018. Clothing and clothing accessories stores sales dipped 0.9% to $22.5 billion from July but increased 0.4% from August 2018.