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U.S. retail sales, excluding auto dealers and gasoline stations, rose 0.22% in August from July and 3.87% from a year earlier, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. It was the 11th consecutive month of gains, though the monthly increase was smaller than July’s.
U.S. retail sales, excluding automobile dealers and gasoline stations, increased 0.22% in August from July, extending a run of monthly gains to 11, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. The measure was also up 3.87% from August 2025, offering a snapshot of consumer spending as households entered the back-to-school shopping period.
The August month-over-month gain was smaller than July’s 0.32% increase. On a year-over-year basis, sales rose 3.87% in August, compared with a 5.15% increase in July. Those comparisons use seasonally adjusted figures, the report said. The figures describe sales changes over different periods and do not establish what caused the shifts.
The report also tracks core retail sales, which exclude restaurants as well as auto dealers and gas stations. That measure rose 0.17% from July and 3.47% from a year earlier in August. In July, core sales increased 0.3% month over month and 4.72% year over year. Both August core readings were lower than their corresponding July readings.
The National Retail Federation said the monitor is based on transaction data. The supplied report does not provide dollar totals, individual retailer results or a breakdown of the August changes by product category. The percentage changes therefore show the direction and pace of sales in the reported measures, rather than which goods or businesses accounted for the movement.
August Growth Slowed From July
The 11-month streak indicates that sales in the monitor’s covered categories continued to rise month over month through August. But the latest increase was modest at 0.22%, and the year-over-year growth rate was below July’s. Taken together, the data point to continued gains alongside a slower pace than the prior month; they do not, by themselves, show whether household demand is strengthening or weakening over a longer period.
For retailers, the figures offer a broad indication of how sales performed during a month that includes back-to-school shopping. NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay linked that spending period to shoppers using promotions and retailers’ focus on affordability. That is the NRF’s interpretation; the published figures do not separately quantify the effect of promotions, wages, employment or school shopping.
Readers should also keep the measure’s exclusions in mind. The headline retail total leaves out auto dealers and gasoline stations, while the core figure also leaves out restaurants. Neither figure represents every kind of consumer spending, and neither says how an individual household experienced prices or purchasing power.
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How the Retail Measures Differ
The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, released by the National Retail Federation, provides monthly retail sales estimates. The Hardware Retailing report published the August figures on September 28, 2026. Its headline measure excludes auto dealers and gasoline stations; its core measure removes restaurants as well.
July provides the comparison immediately preceding August in the report. Total sales rose 0.32% month over month and 5.15% year over year in July, while core sales rose 0.3% month over month and 4.72% year over year. August’s reported increases were smaller across both measures. The source describes August as the 11th consecutive month of gains but does not list each month in the streak.
What the August Data Leave Open
The report does not identify which product categories or retailers drove the August increase, or how much back-to-school purchases contributed. It also does not provide dollar sales totals in the supplied material. The figures alone cannot confirm Shay’s explanation about unemployment, wage gains, household budgets or promotions.
The report gives seasonally adjusted month-over-month and year-over-year percentage changes, but the supplied account does not describe possible later revisions or give a longer series of monthly readings. The 11-month streak is reported by the NRF monitor; the available source does not show the full sequence behind it.
Next Monthly Retail Monitor Reading
The next monthly release will show whether the run of gains continued after August and how the month-over-month and year-over-year rates compare with the August readings. Further category detail or revised estimates, if provided in later reporting, could help clarify which parts of retail contributed to the change. The source does not state a release date for the next report.
Key Questions
How much did retail sales rise in August?
The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor reported a 0.22% seasonally adjusted increase from July for sales excluding auto dealers and gasoline stations. The same measure was up 3.87% from August 2025.
What does the 11-month streak refer to?
It refers to consecutive monthly gains in the retail sales measure described by the report. The supplied article does not list the month-by-month readings for the full streak.
How did core retail sales perform?
Core retail sales, which also exclude restaurants, rose 0.17% month over month and 3.47% year over year in August. The report gives July comparisons of 0.3% and 4.72%, respectively.
Did back-to-school shopping cause the increase?
NRF chief Matthew Shay said households used back-to-school promotions, but the reported figures do not isolate the effect of those purchases or promotions. That explanation is the NRF’s account of the results.
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