The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that furniture and home furnishings sales in July 2016 edged up a mere 0.2% from the previous month. Compared to 2015 levels, the department reported an increase of 4.3%.

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.

The Dept. of Commerce reported that all U.S. retail and food service sales for July were estimated at $460.9 billion, which was virtually unchanged from the previous month and 2.3% above last July’s total of $457.7 billion. Total sales from May through July 2016 were up 2.5% from the same period a year ago.

The strongest performing categories over 2015 levels included non-store retailers (primarily e-commerce and catalog based businesses), which showed a 14.1% increase over July 2015; health and personal care stores, up 7.8%; and food services and drinking places, up 5%.

The category that took the biggest hit from the previous year was gasoline stations, down 11.1%. Also showing a decline were department stores, a subset of general merchandise stories, which dropped 4%, and electronics and appliance stories, down 3.8% from July 2015.

(Source: Furniture Today)