RETAIL SALES BY CITY : Small Communities Show Large Increases

There are no malls in San Juan Capistrano, but that did not stop enthusiastic shoppers there from racking up 29.6% more retail sales in 1988 than in the previous year--the biggest percentage increase among county cities.

But San Juan Capistrano still has a long way to go to catch first-place Anaheim, according to data furnished by the State Board of Equalization. The south county community’s 1988 sales of $217 million are less than one-tenth of Anaheim’s $2.88 billion. However, Anaheim posted just a 2.2% increase over its 1987 total.

Two other small towns, Laguna Beach and Yorba Linda, had the second- and third-largest percentage gains.

In the only change in the top-five ranking, Orange surged past Huntington Beach into the No. 4 position. Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and Seal Beach were the only cities with year-to-year declines.

Cities ranked by 1988 sales. Figures are in millions of dollars.

% 1988 4th 1987 4th % City 1988 1987 Change Quarter Quarter Change Anaheim $2,879.5 $2,816.5 +2.2 761.7 717.8 +6.1 Santa Ana 2,529.8 2,346.8 +7.8 726.3 652.8 +11.3 Costa Mesa 2,107.6 1,927.8 +9.3 635.8 557.4 +14.1 Irvine 1,757.0 1,559.5 +12.7 480.2 417.1 +15.1 Orange 1,700.1 1,510.8 +12.5 529.5 414.8 +27.7 Huntington Beach 1,511.5 1,544.8 -2.2 386.9 414.8 -6.7 Fullerton 1,183.1 1,096.6 +7.9 325.9 292.4 +11.5 Garden Grove 1,138.1 1,114.3 +2.1 304.9 279.0 +9.3 Newport Beach 995.6 966.1 +3.1 287.1 273.2 +5.1 Buena Park 858.6 834.4 +2.9 233.7 216.1 +8.1 Westminster 745.3 729.9 +2.1 215.1 200.9 +7.1 Tustin 557.8 556.6 +0.2 146.3 142.2 +2.9 Brea 530.4 515.6 +2.9 163.3 151.1 +8.1 La Habra 366.8 356.3 +3.0 104.4 99.7 +4.7 Fountain Valley 360.5 338.6 +6.5 101.3 86.1 +17.7 Cypress 260.4 233.7 +11.4 74.3 66.6 +11.6 Placentia 246.2 226.5 +8.7 63.4 56.9 +11.4 Stanton 226.9 203.4 +11.6 59.9 51.5 +16.3 San Juan 217.0 167.4 +29.6 61.1 45.7 +33.7 Capistrano San Clemente 205.4 183.2 +12.1 54.8 45.6 +20.2 Los Alamitos 181.1 185.3 -2.3 42.1 51.5 -18.3 Laguna Beach 179.3 155.3 +15.5 46.1 35.4 +30.2 Yorba Linda 118.2 104.4 +13.2 35.1 29.2 +20.2 Seal Beach 96.8 98.4 -1.6 24.3 23.9 +1.7

Source: State Board of Equalization