Census Bureau: Marginal increases in retail sales for July

WASHINGTON The Census Bureau announced Friday that advance estimates of retail and food services sales for July totaled $362.7 billion, an increase of 0.4% from the previous month, and 5.5% above July 2009.

For the month, retail trade sales were up 0.4% from June, and 5.9% above last year. Grocery store sales slightly dropped in July from nearly $43.32 million to $42.23 million. While advance estimates for pharmacies and drug stores sales were not available, sales for the month of June totaled $18.7 million, up almost 1.1% from May.

Total sales for the May through July 2010 period were up 5.9% from the same period a year ago.