Lower BC retail sales in December compared to November
Posted February 21, 2014 6:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC retailers had a stronger Christmas season than a year earlier, yet sales in December were lower than November.
Part of the unusual situation might be due to stores that held “Black Friday” sales on the US Thanksgiving weekend late in November, pulling purchases forward from December.
Also, Statistics Canada says “Extreme weather conditions throughout the country were a factor.”
Statistics Canada says retailers in this province had sales of $5.3 billion in December, up 3.2 per cent from a year earlier. It was the seventh consecutive gain on a year-over-year basis, but sales were down 2.1 per cent from the previous month.
StatsCan also says all provinces suffered month-over-month retail sales drops. It adds that stores usually associated with the holiday shopping period had weaker sales in December.
