Retail sales rise 6.6 percent for all of 2014 | Department of Revenues

Taxable retail sales increased 6.6 percent to $124.85 billion during calendar year 2014 compared to 2013, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported today.

Taxable retail sales increased 6.6 percent to $124.85 billion during calendar year 2014 compared to 2013, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported on May 26.

Retail trade, a subset of all sales that excludes nonretail sectors such as construction and services, rose 4.8 percent to $56.31 billion.

Within the retail sector:

  • New and used car sales rose 7.9 percent to $10.76 billion.
  • Building materials, garden equipment and supplies increased 7.5 percent to $5.35 billion
  • E-commerce and mail order went up 19.8 percent to $2.09 billion
  • Drug and health stores rose by 8.3 percent to $1.81 billion

The construction industry saw large gains, with an overall increase of 9.6 percent to $21.14 billion. Building construction drove most of those gains, rising 9.7 percent to $11.57 billion.

While many industries saw gains in 2014, some showed slight declines. Department stores dropped 2.2 percent to $2.96 billion, and book stores and news dealers also dropped by 1.5 percent to $295 million.

Results for the most populous counties:

 

Taxable retail sales

Percent change

Retail trade

Percent change

King

$49.64 billion

7.7

$19.54 billion

5.0

Pierce

$12.74 billion

4.5

$6.57 billion

4.0

Snohomish

$11.70 billion

4.7

$6.39 billion

6.2

Spokane

$8.08 billion

6.8

$3.99 billion

4.1

Clark

$5.29 billion

8.5

$2.42 billion

8.1

Results for cities with the most sales:

 

Taxable retail sales

% change

Retail trade

% change

Seattle

$19.96 billion

9.5

$6.24 billion

5.8

Bellevue

$6.0 billion

10.4

$2.76 billion

4.4

Tacoma

$4.32 billion

0.9

$2.21 billion

1.9

Spokane

$4.38 billion

6.7

$2.07 billion

3.8

Vancouver

$3.01 billion

8.8

$1.42 billion

11.5

 

Revenue provides detailed reports of taxable retail sales and retail trade figures by county and city, as well as a breakdown of sales statewide by industry. These files can be found at http://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/StatisticsAndReports/stats_lrs2014.aspx.

 

Results for all counties and selected cities, including breakdowns of sales by industry sector, are available at http://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/StatisticsAndReports/2014/qbrcal14/default.aspx.