Despite Pandemic, MA Retailers Doing Better Than A Year Ago

MASSACHUSETTS — One of the few bright spots in the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic can be found in hardware stores and supermarkets in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts retailers aren't just doing better than they were when an emergency order forced them to shut down in March. They're doing better than they were a year ago.

The state collected more sales tax revenue in July and August than it did a year ago, excluding meals and car sales taxes. And a survey by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts found that 61 percent of the state's retail businesses did better on the sales tax holiday weekend in August than they did a year earlier. Close to 70 percent of the survey's respondents said traffic to their businesses rose between July and August.

While Massachusetts has had the highest unemployment rate in the nation in June and July, consumer spending has bounced back faster than it has in the rest of the country. Consumer spending in Massachusetts was down 5.1 percent in August from where it was in January; nationally, the rate has fallen 7.3 percent during the same time period.

Related story: Massachusetts Has Nation's Biggest Drop In Unemployment In August

Still, not all retailers have enjoyed in the unexpected bounce back.

Grocery stores, home-goods stores and hardware stores are the big winners as the coronavirus forces people to spend more time at home. Clothing stores, dry cleaners, jewelry stores and other businesses that cater to people who have to get dressed up to go to work are still stuck in the COVID-19 slump.

Retailers in the areas of Massachusetts that are heavily dependent on tourism are also struggling. Nearly 36 percent of Cape Cod businesses, for example, say they don't have enough cash on hand to survive the off season.

"I would say, and our surveys bear this out, that a third of our members are winners, a third are losers, and a third are hoping they, next year, will just get back to where they were, pretty much,” RAM President Jon Hurst told the Boston Business Journal.

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).