Retail sales fail to climb

Advanced estimates for sales of building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers -- the industry's closely watched NAICS 444 classification -- were at $23.292 billion in June, down slightly from $23.522 billion in May, but up 2.6% from last year's figure.

It was a similar story for the entire U.S. economy. The U.S. Census Bureau's sales report shows retail and food services sales for June decreased 0.5% to $360.2 billion. That level is up 4.8% from June 2009.

The above figures are adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences.

In the unadjusted figures of the Monthly Retail Trade Report, the latest measurement of hardware store and paint and wallpaper store sales, there was some more positive numbers for May as weather improved and spending on the home picked up.

Hardware stores (NAICS code 44413) showed an unadjusted estimated $1.839 billion sales in May, up from $1.743 billion in April. But the May figure is down 5.5% from May 2009.

Census Bureau reported paint and wallpaper stores (NAICS code 44412) had sales of $735 million in May 2010, up from $711 million in the prior month, and up from $714 million in the year-ago month.