Spending Up in County Retail Area
Consumers in the Anaheim-Santa Ana area spent $138.9 million in July, continuing the area’s ninth consecutive month of healthy retail spending in general-merchandise retail sales, an industry trade group reported Thursday.
Data released this week by the International Council of Shopping Centers shows that retail sales in the Anaheim-Santa Ana area in July climbed 5.5% over the comparable period last year.
The trade group’s data measures sales at department stores, junior department stores, mass merchants and national chains but does not include gas stations and restaurants. The figures are the most current measure of retail activity available.
The sales figures were released as part of the trade group’s monthly tabulation of general merchandise retail sales in the 125 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 6,000 stores with 25 or more employees. The retailers tallied account for $110 billion in sales annually.
In the Anaheim-Santa Ana metropolitan area, retail sales of general merchandise have shown steady growth for the past 12 months, with the exception of October, 1989 (when they dropped 1% to $140.1 million), and August, 1988 (when they dropped 0.9% to $140 million), said Don Pendley, an ICSC spokesman.
According to retail analysts, the upward trend reflects three factors among Orange County residents: their household incomes are among the highest in the United States, they live in a diversified economy and they have a high rate of residents with younger families.
“Some areas, like Detroit, have suffered tremendously in terms of retail sales. But Orange County has a stable, diversified economy, which is important for keeping things going,” said Sarah Stack, retail analyst with Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards Inc. in Los Angeles.
Furthermore, Stack noted, Orange County has a comparatively high rate of residents who are married with children. “Compared with a largely single population, that generates more spending,” Stack said.
“Many families (in the Anaheim-Santa Ana area) are very young, and that’s when a lot of consumption is going on, as opposed to people in the middle part of their lives who are starting to save more.”
In terms of rate of growth, the Anaheim-Santa Ana area ranked 51st out of the top 125 retail sales markets in the country for the first six months of the year.
Compared with the comparable period in 1988, retail sales in the the Anaheim-Santa Ana area climbed 5.9%.
RETAIL TOP TEN Cities showing fastest growth in sales during first six months of ’89 compared with same period a year earlier. 1. El Paso 2. Austin 3. Fort Worth/Arlington 4. Salt Lake City/Ogden 5. Jacksonville, Fla. 6. San Antonio 7. Dallas 8. Riverside/San Bernardino 9. Augusta, Ga./So. Carolina metro area 10. Greenville and Spartanburg (S.C.) 51. Anaheim/Santa Ana 58. Los Angeles 97. New York
