There were $686.6 billion in retail and food service sales in May an increase of 0.3% from the previous month and up 1.6% above the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Core retail sales—excluding automobiles and gasoline—decreased 0.68% from the previous month and 5.6% from the previous year.
Retail trade sales were up 0.3% from April 2023, and up 0.7% above last year. Nonstore retailers were up 6.5% from May last year, while food services and drinking places were up 8.0 from May 2022.
Read the Census release.