In the first quarter, Clark County’s taxable retail sales were up 6.9% to $1.9 billion making it the largest percentage increase among Washington counties, and retail trade sales were up 5.1% to $785 million. Vancouver taxable retail sales were up the most of any major city, increasing 5.2% to $1.0 billion, and retail trade was up slightly to $437 million.
A steady increase in construction once again helped boost the state’s total taxable retail sales in the first quarter of 2019 by 4.9 percent over the same period in 2018, reaching $39.4 billion, reflecting an 8% jump in construction and a 7.1% jump in sales at drug and health stores. Retail trade, a subset of all taxable retail sales in the state, also increased by 4.6 percent to a total of $16.5 billion.
