Home furnishings stores miss out on October sales bounce
WASHINGTON – October sales were up in all but two of nine categories on a yearly basis as consumers geared up for the holiday season.
Aggregated retail sales bounced back, showing both monthly and year-over-year gains, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor.
The furniture & home furnishings store category fell short on both measures.
The Retail Monitor’s calculation of core retail sales (excluding restaurants in addition to automobile dealers and gasoline stations) was up 0.6% month over month in September and up 4.89% year over year. That compared with a decrease of 0.49% month over month and an increase of 5.72% year over year in September.
Furniture and home furnishings stores were down 0.08% month over month seasonally adjusted and down 1.7% year over year unadjusted. The Retail Monitor bases its calculations on anonymized credit and debit card purchase data compiled by Affinity Solutions.
The only other segment to show declines in October was the building and garden supply stores channel, where sales were down 0.81% month over month seasonally adjusted and down 8.52% year over year unadjusted.
“Recent economic data has been mixed, yet consumer spending remains solid — supported by wage growth outpacing inflation, historically low unemployment, and wealth effects from strong stock market valuations,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay.
For the first 10 months of 2025, core retail sales were up 5.28% (excluding restaurants in addition to automobile dealers and gasoline stations).
The October results come as NRF is forecasting that 2025 holiday sales will increase between 3.7% and 4.2% compared with 2024 to just over $1 trillion.
Specifics from key sectors that gained in October include:
- Digital products (such as electronic books and games) were up 2.02% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 22.39% year over year unadjusted.
- Clothing and accessories stores were up 1.42% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 7.89% year over year unadjusted.
- Sporting goods, hobby, music and book stores were up 0.09% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 7.19% year over year unadjusted.
- General merchandise stores were up 0.58% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 6.99% year over year unadjusted.
- Electronics and appliance stores were up 0.13% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 6.58% year over year unadjusted.
- Grocery and beverage stores were up 0.59% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 4.08% year over year unadjusted.
- Health and personal care stores were up 0.58% month over month seasonally adjusted and up 1.9% year over year unadjusted.
