Furniture Store Sales Sagged in October 2023: Report

The bloom appears to have fallen completely off the Covid-inspired rose, as brick-and-mortar furniture store sales continue to slide from their pandemic high, according to the latest figures published by Statistics Canada.

The national statistical office recently reported preliminary and actual furniture store sales were $1.18 billion in October 2023, a dip of 6.4 per cent from the $1.28 billion rung-up the previous month. Sales were also down 6.4 per cent year-over-year, from the $1.28 billion in October 2022. The record for sales in October was set in 2021, when sales reached $1.36 billion.

While this figure includes retailers’ e-commerce activities, it doesn’t include sales by purely digital specialists like Article, Simpli Home, Wayfair Canada and others. Statistics Canada’s monthly retail trade survey doesn’t cover the direct-to-consumer segment of retail.

For the 10 months ended Oct. 31, 2023, furniture store sales totalled $11.8 billion, down 6.5 per cent from the $12.6 billion recorded for the comparable period of 2022.

Meanwhile, sales by home furnishings stores — a segment that includes floor covering specialists as well as those selling decorative accessories, lamps, accent furniture and similar product categories — had actual and preliminary sales of $720.5 million for the month of October 2023. That’s a decline of 4.5 per cent from the $689.5 million sold in September, and a dip of 4.4 per cent from the $753.3 million in October 2022.

Like their ‘cousins,’ these merchants’ high mark for sales in October was set in 2021, at $796.5 million.

Year-to-date, also ending Oct. 31, 2023, brick-and-mortar home furnishings store sales tallied $6.77 billion, falling 7.5 per cent from the prior year’s $7.32 billion.

Electronics and appliance stores also saw their month-over-month sales drop, but only by approximately 0.7 per cent, ringing in at an actual and preliminary $1.75 billion for the month of October, compared to $1.77 billion in September. However, in a departure from the others, these merchants saw sales for the month climb 14.9 per cent from October 2022’s $1.53 billion.

Also year-to-date, total store sales rung-in at $16.4 billion this past October, compared to $15.3 billion in 2022 — a 7.6 per cent jump.

Electronics and appliance stores were among retail’s better performing categories in October, while both furniture and home furnishings stores lagged behind other segments.

According to Statistics Canada, location-based retail sales grew 2.6 per cent that month, led by strong increases by automotive dealers. However, this was below the 3.1 per cent uptick in the Consumer Price Index.