PACIFIC COUNTY Taxable retail sales increased 1.5 percent to $23 billion statewide during the first quarter of 2011 over earlier results, the Department of Revenue reported last week.

    State Department of Revenue statistics show a 10 percent decline in overall taxable sales in our county this winter compared to the also-slow winter 2010, including a 5.6 percent decline in retail.

    Although state stats arent yet available for the April-June 2011 quarter, for the nine months from July 2010 through March 2011, total taxable sales in the county declined 6.5 percent while the retail sector included within that total increased a paltry 1.7 percent.

     In the state as a whole, retail trade increased 4.2 percent to $10.7 billion compared to the first quarter of 2010. Retail trade is a subset of all taxable retail sales that includes retailers but excludes other industries such as services and construction.

    Among major industries, the construction sector was down 9.8 percent to $3.2 billion, but sales by new and used car dealers jumped 11.9 percent to $1.9 billion. Accommodations and food services rose 4.6 percent to $2.6 billion, while building materials, garden equipment and supplies sales dropped 8.6 percent to $842 million.  Despite positive numbers in most retail sectors, sales by general merchandise stores dropped 0.3 percent to $2.2 billion.