Clothing Stores Lead Steep Losses for U.S. Retailers

Few businesses were spared as the lockdown put in place to contain the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on U.S. retail sales in April. In fact, nonstore retailers, i.e. mostly e-commerce dealers, were the only ones seeing positive sales growth compared to an already weak March.

According to latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the entire retail industry suffered dramatic sales declines, with clothing, electronics and furniture stores hit particularly hard by stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile food and beverage stores and building material & garden equipment dealers proved relatively immune to the crisis, with the former even recording a 12 percent sales increase over April 2019.