Retail growth “stumbling along”: Strapagiel

TORONTO ― The latest StatCan data show Canadian retail sales growth “stumbling along slowly” according to analyst Ed Strapagiel. Although sales have edged up slightly recently, the three- and 12-month trends remain lacklustre. LBM and garden equipment, however, were a bright spot. “Building material and garden equipment and supplies merchants were up 5.4% in Q3,” he writes, “which is a significant recovery from the stingy 0.9% gain for the first half of the year.”