Garden equipment and building material supplies drove a 1.6% advance in April retail sales in B.C. compared with the month before, according to Statistics Canada.
The June 20 report showed seasonally adjusted retail sales came in at $5.489 billion in April, up from $5.404 billion the month before.
That’s a 7.1% increase from April 2013, when British Columbia posted $5.126 billion in retail sales.
Only Quebec and Ontario outpaced B.C. in terms of March-to-April growth as those provinces reported gains of 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively.
While B.C. has about a half-million more residents than Alberta, the major oil-producing neighbour reported $6.456 billion in retail sales for the month of April. That’s a decline of 0.9% compared with March.
Overall, a 2.4% increase in motor vehicle and parts dealers made up the biggest month-to-month gain in retail sales across Canada. Liquor sales were up 2.1% in April and sales at shoe stores rose 6.8% compared with the month before.
Retail sales rose for the fourth consecutive month on a national basis, moving up to $41.6 billion — a 1.1% from March to April.
