Retail sales decreased 0.5% to $61.1 billion in September. Sales declined in 7 of the 11 subsectors, representing 74.9% of retail trade. The decrease was led by sales at gasoline stations (-2.4%) and food and beverage stores (-1.3%).
Core retail sales—which exclude sales at gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers—decreased 0.4%.
In volume terms, retail sales declined 0.1% in September.
Retail sales were down 1.0% in the third quarter. This was the first quarterly decline since sales fell by 11.9% in the second quarter of 2020. In volume terms, retail sales were down 1.4% in the third quarter of 2022.
Given the continually evolving economic situation, Statistics Canada is providing an advance estimate of retail sales, which suggests that sales increased 1.5% in October. Owing to its early nature, this figure will be revised. This unofficial estimate was calculated based on responses received from 46.4% of companies surveyed. The average final response rate for the survey over the previous 12 months has been 90.4%.
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