OLYMPIA – Jan. 6, 2012 – Taxable retail sales increased 3.2 percent to $27.3 billion during the third quarter of 2011compared to year-earlier results, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported today.
Retail trade, a subset of all sales that counts only retail store sales and excludes other sectors such as construction and services, was up 2.4 percent to $12.2 billion.
Among major industries, construction rose 1.4 percent to $4.4 billion, the first gain for this sector since the first quarter of 2008. Accommodations and food services rose 5.3 percent to $3.5 billion; motor vehicles and parts rose 4.5 percent to $2.6 billion; general merchandise stores dropped 1.2 percent to $1.8 billion, and miscellaneous retailers were up 1 percent to $1.3 billion.
Results for the most populous counties:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| King |
$10.5 billion |
4.8% |
$4.3 billion |
4.0% |
| Pierce |
$2.7 billion |
(-3.3%) |
$1.4 billion |
(-.1)% |
| Snohomish |
$2.5 billion |
0.3% |
$1.3 billion |
3.0% |
| Spokane |
$1.8 billion |
2.2% |
$869 million |
0.9% |
| Clark |
$1.1 billion |
4.6% |
$500 million |
3.6% |
Results for cities with the most sales:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| Seattle |
$4.1 billion |
7.4% |
$1.4 billion |
6.1% |
| Bellevue |
$1.2 billion |
2.2% |
$583 million |
3.1% |
| Tacoma |
$961 million |
(-4.8%) |
$496 million |
(-0.7%) |
| Spokane |
$934 million |
(-1.5%) |
$440 million |
(-3.4%) |
| Vancouver |
$620 million |
6.6% |
$272 million |
5.0% |
Results for all counties and selected cities are available at
http://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/StatisticsAndReports/2011/qbr311/Default.aspx.
Additional comparisons of taxable retail sales and retail trade by county and all cities, and a breakdown of the change in sales statewide by industry are available at http://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/newsroom/2012/trs-q32011.aspx.
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