May 15, 2020
April U.S. retail sales minus auto and gas dropped 9.3 percent year over year and 14.3 percent from March 2020, according to an advance estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau. Nonstore sales, food-and-beverage-store sales and building supply/garden-store sales each grew year over year, but only nonstore sales increased from March 2020 to April 2020. Sales at traditional and discount department stores, a subset of the general merchandise category, fell 47 percent year over year in April. Clothing stores fared worst among U.S. store categories, as sales fell 89.3 percent year over year and 78.8 percent from March.
RELATED: March U.S. retail sales
By Amanda Metcalf
Editor in Chief, Commerce + Communities Today
