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September 19, 2025RETAIL TRADE, JULY 2025 Monthly (seasonally adjusted, July 2025 vs June 2025)
In Nova Scotia retail trade increased 0.4% to $1.9 billion. Nationally, retail trade decreased 0.8% to $69.6 billion. Five provinces reported increases in retail trade, led by Prince Edward Island. Five provinces reported decreases in retail sales, led by Newfoundland and Labrador.
Year over year (July 2025 vs July 2024)
Nova Scotia retail trade increased 3.6% compared to the same month last year. Nationally, retail trade was up 4.0% year-over-year. Eight provinces reported year-over-year increases in retail trade, led by British Columbia. Two provinces led by Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador reported negative growth.
Year to date (January-July 2025 vs January-July 2024)
Nova Scotia retail trade increased 3.8% year-to-date compared to the same period last year. Nationally, retail trade was up 5.1% year-to-date. All provinces reported year-to-date increases in retail trade, led by British Columbia. Prince Edward Island reported the slowest growth (followed by Nova Scotia and Quebec).
In dollar terms, motor vehicles/parts ($3.505 billion), food/beverage ($2.402 billion), gas stations ($1.769 billion) and general merchandise stores ($1.705 billion) contributed the most to Nova Scotia's retail sales in January-July 2025.
The largest increases in percentage terms were reported in motor vehicles and parts stores, appliances/electronics, clothing, and health/personal care. Gas stations and building materials/garden supply stores reported the only declines.
Trends
In recent months, Nova Scotia retail sales have been more volatile than the Canadian average (common for a smaller province). Nova Scotia reported three months of increasing growth in November through January followed by volatile growth grouped and rising trend from February through July.
E-Commerce
In July 2025, Canada's ecommerce sales increased 2.2% compared to the previous month, increasing to $4.27 billion, or to 6.1% of total retail sales.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table: 20-10-0056-01, Monthly retail trade sales by province and territory (x 1,000)
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