Retail sales top $200 billion level in April

July 25, 1996

Retail sales top $200 billion level in April, State Data
 Center reports

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. -- Retail sales in the U.S. topped the $200
 billion mark in April.

	Statistics compiled by the Pennsylvania State Data
Center at Penn State Harrisburg place unadjusted April sales
for all retail stores in the U.S.  at $200.3 billion -- an
estimated 6.8 percent increase from April, 1995, but a 0.5
percent drop from March, 1996.

	Sales of durable goods reached $84 billion in April,
an increase from the previous month of 0.4 percent and a
considerable 12 percent jump from April, 1995.  Automotive
dealer sales totaled $52.2 billion in April, 1996, or 26
percent of total retail sales and a 12.5 percent increase from
the previous year.  Building materials sales were $11.8
billion, 5.9 percent of the retail total.

	The sales of nondurable goods hit $116.3 billion in
April, 1996, a 1.1 percent drop from March, 1996 sales, and
a 3.4 percent boost from April, 1995, the Data Center reports.

	Food store sales totaled $34.2 billion in April, a
2.2 percent increase from the previous year and a 2.6 percent
decrease from the previous month.

	The Northeast region posted the largest increase in
total retail sales from April, 1995, to April 1996, hitting
$37.5 billion for an 8.3 percent jump.  The South and Midwest
showed 7.2 percent increases and the Midwest followed with a
4.9 percent rise.  April, 1996, sales of nondurable goods in
the Northeast totaled $22.7 billion while durable goods sales
hit $14.8 billion.  Durable goods sales increased 16 percent
from April, 1995, to April, 1996, while nondurable goods sales
increased 3.7 percent during the same period.

	Total retail sales in Pennsylvania hit $9.2 billion
in April, 1996, for a 10.8 percent rise from the previous year
and a 1.1 percent increase from the previous month.  Both were
higher than the national average.  Sales of durable goods in
Pennsylvania increased 14.2 percent from April, 1995, to reach
$3.6 billion in April, 1996.  This is a 2.4 percent increase
from the previous month.

	Sales of nondurable goods also rose, 8.7 percent from
1995 and 0.3 percent from the previous month.

_______________________________________________________________
The state-sponsored Pennsylvania State Data Center is the
Commonwealth's official source of population and economic
statistics and services.  It is based in Penn State Harrisburg's
Institute of State and Regional Affairs.


Source of Information:	U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Retail
			Trade
			
Accompany Chart:        Monthly Retail Sales, April 1995 - April 1996