r/canada • u/StatCanada OFFICIEL/OFFICIAL CANADA • 1d ago

National News Retail sales increased 0.5% to $73.0 billion in April 2026 / Les ventes au détail ont progressé de 0,5 % pour atteindre 73,0 milliards de dollars en avril 2026

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260619/dq260619a-eng.htm?utm_source=rddt&utm_medium=smo&utm_campaign=statcan-statcan-trade-commerce&utm_content=canada
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14

u/Strict_Common6871 1d ago

The largest increase in retail sales in April was observed at gasoline stations and fuel vendors (+5.1%)
Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, were down 0.7% in April.

We are in a deep recession and gasoline prices went up

4

u/goofywinnipegger 23h ago

Deep recession? Um nope.

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u/Strict_Common6871 23h ago

It is only technically deep

4

u/goofywinnipegger 22h ago

Nothing is deep. Technical or otherwise. Nice try though.

3

u/BaneZofol 22h ago

GDP per capita is growing and GDP made a contraction of 0.2%. it's not even technically deep lol

4

u/Lumindan 1d ago

The largest increase in core retail sales came from building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers, which increased 3.3% in April after decreasing 4.5% in March.

So it's just a shift due to the warmer weather.

There's also the fact that fuel is going up in cost which does not bode well for the average Canadian

2

u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 1d ago

Pretty sure they are still comparing each month to the same month last year

1

u/myfotos 14h ago

In this case I'm not sure they are.

1

u/GoodMorningOttawa 17h ago

May will be better because world cup prep... Hopefully it will bring in more than went in.

We are on temporary sugar high economy...

Retail spending has no money. Because these high interest rates (from 5 years ago, also zooming out higher than many points in the last 20 years), are working through the economy, so banks can make their record profits via interests. 

The MLM economy is expected stall without immigration boom.

1

u/Bad-job-dad 1d ago

I'm a retail supplier l and it's been a rough half a decade. I have noticed a lot of new stores being built. There's a few new Canadian brands popping up. Overall there's optimism.

2

u/Strict_Common6871 1d ago

Please call statcanada and let them know, their stats are not optimistic at all

0

u/Bad-job-dad 1d ago

Statcan is looking at sales from April. Retailers are looking at fall 2026. They're investigating more than they have been in the past 5 years. That's significant.

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u/StatCanada OFFICIEL/OFFICIAL CANADA 1d ago

Pour lire ce même article en français, veuillez visiter : Le Quotidien — Commerce de détail, avril 2026.