Bar sales show decline over past three months
Sales in bars fell both in terms of volume and the money taken in by the businesses in August, September, and October from the same period last year, CSO retail figures show.
Volume sales in bars fell 3% and were down 1.2% in terms of the value of those sales, the largest decline posted by any of 13 retail business types apart from department stores in the period, according to the figures.
Ahead of any Black Friday online sales gains, the big gainers in the three months were retailers of electrical goods where volume sales surged 15.8% from last year, while furniture and lighting retailers had volume sales gains of 7.8%. Retailers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics also performed well by posting an annual increase of over 5% in the three months.
The three-month figures can iron out the volatile nature of sales posted by retailers in any one month.
The CSO said that in October overall retail sales fell 0.5% from September but were up 3% from October 2018.
“Even with the fluctuation in consumer sentiment, overall personal spending has been positive in the past few years, boosted by the increase in the numbers employed in the country,” said independent economist Alan McQuaid.
