California Apparel News

February was a very good month for sales. The National Retail Federation reported that retail sales last month rose 4.4 percent year-over-year as the economy continued to grow.

Doing particularly well were online sites and other non-store sales that jumped 10.5 percent year-over-year while clothing and clothing accessories stores saw solid performances with a 5.2 percent rise in sales in February compared to the same month last year.

“Consumers are still in the driver’s seat,” said Jack Kleinhenz, the NRF’s chief economist. “It’s still too early to draw conclusions about the impact of tax cuts, but extra money in shoppers’ pockets should help as the year goes forward.”

The three-month moving average was also up 4.4 percent over the same period one year ago. The NRF predicts that retails sales this year will grow between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent.

Retail sales in other categories included:

• Building materials and garden-supply stores were up 5.1 percent in year-over-year sales.

• Electronics and appliance stores saw a 4.3 percent increase year-over-year.

• Furniture and home-furnishings stores had a 2.9 percent growth in sales year-over-year.

• General-merchandise-store sales were up 2.4 percent year-over-year.

• Health and personal-care stores saw a 0.3 percent increase year-over-year.

• Sporting-goods stores were having a tough time with sales sliding 3.4 percent year-over-year.