Specialized stores report lower food sales

Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores were 3.3 per cent lower in September this year compared to September last year. Examples of speciality shops are butcher stores and fishmongers. In the first nine months of this year this sector has seen a 3.7 per cent drop in sales compared to the same period last year.

The volume of other new goods sold in specialized stores (clothing, shoes, electrical appliances, furniture, hardware, paint and building materials) was fully 12 per cent higher in September 1997 compared to September 1996. Mail order and other non-store sales increased by the same amount. Sales in stores selling pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries were 9.7 per cent higher in the same period. In non-specialized retailing with food, beverages and tobacco predominating, the volume index went up 2.3 per cent.

So far this year

In the first nine months of this year the volume index for retail sales excluding motor vehicles and gasoline went up 3.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. The volume of sales of other new goods (clothing, shoes, electrical appliances, furniture, hardware, paint and building materials) was up 8.4 per cent in the same period. Retail sales outside stores have grown nine per cent so far this year compared with the same period last year.

New Statistics

Index of retail sales, September 1997.
Statistics are published every month in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Solveig Nygårdseter, tel. +47 62 88 51 74, e-mail: snl@ssb.no or Rune Sønsterudbråten, tel. +47 62 88 54 37, e-mail: rso@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 45, 1997