Taxable retail sales increased 3.2 percent to $27.3 billion during the third quarter of 2011compared to year-earlier results, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported in a Jan. 6 press release. Locally, Spokane County saw taxable retails sales of $1.8 billion, a 2.2 percent increase.
Retail trade, a subset of all sales that counts only retail store sales and excludes other sectors such as construction and services, was up 2.4 percent to $12.2 billion. In Spokane County, retail trade reached $869 million, a 0.9 percent increase.
Among major industries, construction rose 1.4 percent to $4.4 billion, the first gain for this sector since the first quarter of 2008. Accommodations and food services rose 5.3 percent to $3.5 billion; motor vehicles and parts rose 4.5 percent to $2.6 billion; general merchandise stores dropped 1.2 percent to $1.8 billion, and miscellaneous retailers were up 1 percent to $1.3 billion.
Among cities with the most sales, the city of Spokane's taxable retail sales was $934 million, a decrease of 1.5 percent. Retail trade was $440 million, down 3.4 percent.
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