Grocery sales up (and down) in September

Supermarket and grocery store sales rose 3.2% in September to $6.25 billion compared to September 2009. However, sales declined slightly (0.2%) versus the previous month of August, reports Statistics Canada.

Grocery sales growth was in line with overall retail sales, which grew 3.3% in September to $36.42 billion from a year ago. Month-to-month sales grew 0.6%. It was the fourth consecutive month of positive growth.

In food and beverage, the hottest category remains specialty food stores, which saw a sales increase of 10.5% year-over-year to $418 million and 1.3% from August to September.

Convenience stores continue to lag behind both specialty and supermarket. Business at corner shops was down 0.9% month-to-month and have declined 4% in the past year to $554 million. Liquor, wine and beer store sales were flat month-to-month, and saw a 2.6% rise in the 12-month period to September of this year.

Overall retail sales in Canada grew in every province in September except for Manitoba and Newfoundland, where sales slid slightly, and New Brunswick, where growth was flat.