There were $697.9 billion in retail and food service sales in February a decrease of 0.4% from the previous month and up 5.4% above the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Core retail sales—excluding automobiles and gasoline—decreased 0.1% from the previous month and 6.8% from the previous year.
Retail trade sales were down 0.1% from January 2023, but up 4.0% above last year. Food services and drinking places were up 15.3% from February 2022.
Read the Census release.