Alberta Retailers Lost Ground In August

After three months of growth, seasonally adjusted retail sales in Alberta fell by 1.6 per cent ($111.1 million) in August. Sales were down by 0.6 per cent ($39.7 million) compared to the previous August.

Nationally, sales edged up by 0.4 per cent ($192.1 million) with year-over-year sales up by 3.5 per cent ($1.8 billion).

Alberta was the only province with retail sales in August below where they were 12 months earlier.

Sales in the province over the first eight months of the year were 6.4 per cent lower than over the same period last year, leaving a $3.4…