OLYMPIA – April 4, 2012 – Taxable retail sales increased 4.2 percent to $27.9 billion during the fourth 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 3.6 percent to $13.3 billion.
Among major industry groups, construction rose 5.8 percent to $4.3 billion; accommodations and food services rose 5.7 percent to $2.9 billion; motor vehicles and parts rose 6.5 percent to $2.6 billion; general merchandise stores was up 0.1 percent to $3.1 billion, and miscellaneous retailers was up 6.9 percent to $1.6 billion.
Results for the most populous counties:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| King |
$10.9 billion |
5.3% |
$4.7 billion |
3.5% |
| Pierce |
$2.8 billion |
(-1.4%) |
$1.5 billion |
1.8% |
| Snohomish |
$2.7 billion |
2.2% |
$1.5 billion |
4.5% |
| Spokane |
$1.9 billion |
4.1% |
$954 million |
3.0% |
| Clark |
$1.1 billion |
5.6% |
$538 million |
2.6% |
Results for cities with the most sales:
| |
Taxable retail sales |
% change |
Retail trade |
% change |
| Seattle |
$4.3 billion |
9.6% |
$1.5 billion |
4.5% |
| Bellevue |
$1.4 billion |
5.0% |
$695 million |
3.4% |
| Tacoma |
$1.0 billion |
(-3.2%) |
$542 million |
1.9% |
| Spokane |
$978 million |
0.0% |
$495 million |
0.5% |
| Vancouver |
$652 million |
6.1% |
$305 million |
4.7% |
Results for all counties and selected cities are available here.
Breakdowns of all sales versus retail trade by county and all cities, and a statewide breakdown of sales by all industries are available here.
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