by WASHINGTON — Sales at furniture and home furnishings stores rose 0.9% in September over the same month last year — making the sector one of the weakest performers of the month, according to the latest government report.
Retail furniture sales totaled $12.02 billion, up from $11.91 billion a year ago. September sales were down 0.7% from August sales, the latter revised up to a preliminary estimate of $12.12 billion from the previous report. That revision reversed a negative year-over-year August report from last month, for a 2.1% gain in August over August a year ago.
Combined retail and food services sales in September were an estimated $684 billion, up about 8.2% from September 2021 and roughly flat with August 2022 sales results. Retail trade sales alone increased 7.8% from September last year and were down 0.1% from August, according to the report.
Just like last month, nearly every sector covered in the U.S. Department of Commerce report outperformed furniture, save for electronics and appliance stores, which posted an 8.6% year-over year decrease in September sales. It was the only sector showing no YOY growth.
The greatest YOY gainers were gas stations, up 20.6%; nonstore retailers, which included e-commerce companies, up 11.6%; and restaurants and bars, up 11.4%.
For the three months ending in September, furniture store sales increased 1.4% over the same period last year and were down 0.8% from the April-through-June period. Electronics and Appliance stores were off 8.6% from the July-through-September 2021 period, and nonstore retailers were up 13.8%.
