EBR retail spending falls just under 1%
Print
Email
Save
Reprints
Twitter
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
Retail spending in East Baton Rouge Parish continued to see-saw in April, falling just under 1 percent to $630.4 million compared to the year before.
Retail spending, as measured by the city-parish’s sales tax collections, has been up and down so far this year. The trend of gains outside the city limits and losses inside the city proper continued.
Spending inside the city limits was down 8 percent to $341.3 million, but up 9 percent to $289.1 million in the outlying areas of the parish from the year-ago period.
For the year, spending inside the city limits is down 7 percent to $1.37 billion. Outside the city limits, spending is up 14 percent to $1.15 billion.
Vehicle sales, which are tracked separately, fell 24 percent in May in the entire parish to $44.1 million. For the year, vehicle sales are down 20 percent. Sales of new cars have been sliding for more than a year, and the year-over-year gap, measured on a quarterly basis, has been widening steadily.
Dealers say they’ve been battling a drop in consumer confidence, fed not so much by the local economy but by the drumbeat of bad national news, troubles on Wall Street and the financial meltdown.
Dealers say credit is available, though not as easy to get for people with bad credit, but folks with their financial house in order aren’t having trouble.
Total spending in the parish, with vehicle sales factored in, was down just under 3 percent in April, and is down a quarter of a percent for the year so far.
For all of 2008, the combined figures totaled $8.57 billion. That was 4 percent higher than the $8.24 billion reported for 2007.
In addition to a boost last year from holiday shopping, the yearly figures got a bump from a big increase in October. Spending rose nearly 20 percent the month after hurricanes Gustav and Ike struck south Louisiana.
 | ||||
| Most Popular | Most Emailed | Hot Topics | ||
