Retail sales figures from the Christmas shopping season won’t be available until late January or early February, but indications are there was plenty of activity in Missouri’s stores and shopping malls.
Missouri Retailers Association President David Overfelt says it appears as though there might have been some growth – not a lot of growth – but some growth. He’s expecting sales at the retail level to be even or about two percent higher than last year’s totals. He adds much of the good economic news will be experienced by the discount stores.
Overfelt says sales tax revenues are down, but those are primarily tied to auto sales, which are not taken into account when calculating general retail Christmas shopping figures.
Overfelt says the reason the Christmas sales numbers won’t be known for about another month is partly due to the fact gift cards that were received over the holidays will only be redeemed over the next few weeks.