Retail sales jumped 7.5% in June, giving stores and restaurants a boost, and spending on clothing doubled. But that came before a new surge in coronavirus cases prompted renewed shutdowns in several states.
Last month, spending ticked up 1.1% from a year earlier — the first annual increase since the pandemic began to hammer the economy, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
Retail sales crashed in a historic plunge this spring as people stopped going out to eat and shop — especially for clothes — during the pandemic. May saw the first big bounceback of 18.2% across all types of stores and establishments, as states and cities allowed more businesses to open their doors in hopes that the worst of the crisis was over.
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