P.E.I. retailers post strong sales in 2016

P.E.I. retail easily outperformed national sales

Image | Shopping, retail at H&M in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Caption: P.E.I. retailers enjoyed a strong 2016. (Jessica Doria-Brown/CBC)

A retail rally that began in early 2015 continued throughout 2016, making it good year for P.E.I. retailers.
Sales were up 6.56 per cent, to $2.2 billion, in 2016, according to Statistics Canada numbers released this week. Nationally sales were up just 3.71 per cent.
After dropping off in the latter half of 2014, sales have been growing steadily since March of 2015.
Seasonally adjusted retail sales in December 2016 were 16 per cent higher than they were in January 2015.