U.S. furniture and home furnishings stores experienced a 4.3 percent jump in sales last month, compared to July 2015, according to the monthly retail sales report from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Home furnishings and furniture store sales in July were up 0.2 percent over sales in June 2016. As Furniture Today reports, “Adjusted sales in the furniture and home furnishings stores sector were estimated at $9.208 billion, up from a revised $8.827 billion a year ago and an even slighter increase from an estimated $9.186 billion in June this year.”
Comparatively, sales at general merchandise stores were down 1.1 percent over the past year, while department store sales also dropped by 4 percent from July 2015, and 0.5 percent from June of this year. Top-performing categories named in the report include non-store retailers (mainly e-commerce and catalog-based businesses), health and personal care stores, and food services and drinking establishments.
