Olympia, Wash., July 8, 2011 — Taxable retail sales increased 1.5 percent to $23 billion during the first quarter of 2011 over year-earlier results, the Department of Revenue reported today.
Retail trade increased 4.2 percent to $10.7 billion compared to the first quarter of 2010. Retail trade is a subset of all taxable retail sales that includes retailers but excludes other industries such as services and construction.
Among major industries, the construction sector was down 9.8 percent to $3.2 billion, but sales by new and used car dealers jumped 11.9 percent to $1.9 billion. Accommodations and food services rose 4.6 percent to $2.6 billion, while building materials, garden equipment and supplies sales dropped 8.6 percent to $842 million. Despite positive numbers in most retail sectors, sales by general merchandise stores dropped 0.3 percent to $2.2 billion.
Results for the most populous counties:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| King |
$9.0 billion |
2.2% |
$3.7 billion |
5.5% |
| Pierce |
$2.4 billion |
1.5% |
$1.3 billion |
5.6% |
| Snohomish |
$2.2 billion |
(1.7)% |
$1.1 billion |
3.3% |
| Spokane |
$1.5 billion |
(0.4)% |
$764 million |
0.9% |
| Clark |
$928 million |
1.3% |
$432 million |
2.6% |
Results for cities with the most sales:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| Seattle |
$3.5 billion |
3.2% |
$1.2 billion |
6.0% |
| Bellevue |
$1.1 billion |
(2.0)% |
$514 million |
1.8% |
| Tacoma |
$910 million |
5.7% |
$462 million |
7.4% |
| Spokane |
$814 million |
(1.9)% |
$400 million |
(2.3)% |
| Vancouver |
$547 million |
3.8% |
$244 million |
4.2% |
Taxable retail sales and retail trade by county and city, and a breakdown of sales statewide by industries are available here.
Results for all counties and selected cities, including breakdowns of sales by industry sector, are available here.
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