After four straight months of buying, figures released Wednesday showed that Canadian shoppers appeared to be keeping their wallets at home in December as retail sales shrank by 0.5 per cent.
Statistics Canada revealed that nine of 11 categories the data agency tracks saw lower sales. The two exceptions were gas stations, and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers, where sales picked up.
Eight out of 10 provinces saw declines. Only Alberta, up 1.1%, and Saskatchewan, up 1.2%, managed to buck the trend
Ironically, retail sales have declined in December in each of the last five years, which suggests to experts some issues with how and when people are doing their holiday shopping
Indeed, stores typically associated with holiday buying fared especially poorly, with clothing and clothing accessories stores down 3.7%, general merchandise stores down 1.3%, sales of electronics down 2.3% and sales of sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores declined 0.5%.
