There was $537.5 billion in retail and food service sales in August, up 0.6% from July and 2.6% above the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Core retail sales—excluding automobiles and gasoline—increased 0.5% from July and increased 3.0% from last year.
Retail trade sales rose 0.1% from July and 5.1% above August 2019. Nonstore retailers were up 22.4% from last year, while clothing and clothing accessory stores were down 20.4% from last year.
Sales at gasoline stations increased 0.4% during August, but decreased 15.4% since August 2019.
Read the Census release.
