August sales for furniture and home furnishings retailers increased1.6% from the same month last year but declined 0.7% from July, the U.S. Department of Commerce said.

Sales for furniture and home furnishings sales grew to $8.986 billion in August compared to a revised $8.842 billion in August 2015. The results were down from preliminary July sales of $9.048 billion, the report said.

Total U.S. retail and food services sales increased 1.9% from August a year ago to $456. 3 billion but were down 0.3% from July, the government said. Economists were looking for a 0.1% decline from July, according to a CNBC report.

The Commerce Department also revised its June to July sales estimate to an increase of 0.1% from the previous flat sales estimate.

The strongest performing sector year-over-year was by far non-store retailers — primarily e-commerce and catalog businesses — which saw a 10.9% sales increase. Non-store retail sales were down 0.3% compared to July. Health and personal care stores were the next strongest performers, up 7.8% from a year ago.

(Source: furnituretoday.com  Author: Clint Engel)