Central Arkansas Retail Sales Rise 3.2% in 2023

(Arkansas Business)

Retail sales in central Arkansas rose 3.2% in 2023 compared with the previous year, according to an April report by Metroplan, the region’s planning agency.
Total sales were $19.2 billion, slightly higher than the $18.6 billion recorded in 2022.

“The long-term trend suggests that, from 2019 to 2023, retail sales gains averaged about 4.4 percent per year in real (inflation-adjusted) figures,” the report said.

Stimulus spending in 2020 and 2021 related to the COVID-19 pandemic boosted retail sales significantly, the report noted. “They only dipped modestly afterward, a trend that may reflect a discernible rise in local per capita incomes,” the report said.