Taxable retail sales in Spokane County in the fourth quarter dropped by $16 million, or 1.1 percent, to $1.49 billion, down from $1.51 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Taxable retail sales in the city of Spokane, meanwhile, fell 0.7 percent to about $844 million from about $850 million.


Randy Barcus, chief economist for Avista Utilities, says retail sales were down here partly because several big public infrastructure projects, such as the North Spokane Corridor, are on hold.


We havent had any of those contracts recently, where contractors are buying large volumes of equipment, he says. Were all holding our breath hoping were going to get going on the Convention Center (expansion) and other public infrastructure construction activity.


Taxable retail-trade sales, meanwhile, rose 1.5 percent in Spokane County and 2.3 percent in the city of Spokane during the quarter.


Under the states record-keeping system, retail trade includes sales at retail outlets, while overall taxable retail sales figures include other types of sales, such as in services, construction, contracting, manufacturing, transportation, and communications.


The county rang up retail-trade sales of about $879 million, up from about $866 million in the fourth quarter of 2001, and the city logged retail-trade sales of $481 million, up from $470 million, the Washington state Department of Revenue says.


Despite the drop in overall retail sales, Barcus says hes pleased as punch that retail-trade sales were up.


Such sales were up 2.6 percent in Pierce County and 0.1 percent in King County, but were down 0.9 percent in Snohomish County and down 0.9 percent statewide. Among the states largest cities, retail-trade sales were up 0.6 percent in Seattle, but down 1.2 percent in Tacoma and down 4.6 percent in Everett.


Several sectors of the Spokane-area economy continued to post gains, including apparel, appliances, and building materials and hardware. Also showing improvements here were general-merchandise sales, or those from variety and department stores, and sales in the category of miscellaneous retail stores, which includes drug stores, catalogs, and vending machines, among others.


Some sectors reported a drop-off in sales, though, including eating and drinking establishments and grocery stores. Most, however, either held steady or grew only slightly. In the city, for example, furniture sales grew 2.8 percent to $44.3 million, while in the county such sales inched up 0.9 percent to $63.9 million.


Maybe people were spending money on Christmas presents instead of going out to eat, suggests Molly Russell, accounting director for the city of Spokane.


After months on the ascent, new-and-used automobile dealerships reported mixed results here. The citys dealerships had $65.8 million in sales for last years fourth quarter, a 3.1 percent increase, while sales at dealerships in the county fell 0.3 percent to $141.2 million.


Meanwhile, sales at hotel and motel services, which arent considered retail trade, rose 19 percent in the city and the countyto $12.3 million in the city and $19.7 million in the county.


Phil Kuharski, a longtime observer of the Spokane economy, says two factors could be at play there.


People have really cut back on long-distance travel, overseas travel, he says. People are really concentrating on seeing their own country.


Additionally, the value of the Canadian dollar grew from about 60 cents on the U.S. dollar to 75 cents or more during the last year, Kuharski says.


Theres more incentive for Canadians to come down and spend money here than there was a year ago, he says. I think that trend will continue over the next year.


Home-related purchases, such as lumber for new houses or remodels, furnishings, and appliances, continued to grow because of low-interest rates on homes and an increase in population here, Kuharski says.


Theres some evidence that migration into the area continued to increase last year, he says. That was part of the explanation for housing doing quite well and apartment vacancies staying down.


Increases in residential-related purchases might have offset the losses in other areas, but because the gains in retail-trade sales werent much different than inflation, the figures were a sign of the underlying economic stress caused by drops in employment, Kuharski says.