Hardware sales soar in first quarter

OTTAWA — Retail sales totalled $113.6 billion in the first quarter, up 5.4% from the same quarter of 2015, reports Statistics Canada. Higher sales were reported in nine of the 10 major commodity groups. Sales of hardware, lawn and garden products grew 9.1%. This reflected higher sales of products typically associated with home building and renovation, such as lumber and other building products (+11.6%), as well as plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical equipment and supplies (+7.0%).