Retail sales face decline but likely less than elsewhere

Last year was a very good year for retail sales in the greater Tri-Cities. For the first time, taxable retail sales in the two counties breached the $6 billion mark, ending 2019 at nearly $6.4 billion, as the Benton-Franklin Trends graph shows.

Taxable sales grew year over year by 9.8%. This is the second-best performance of the past decade, trailing only slightly behind the 10% growth experienced in 2015. Taxable retail sales in 2019 nearly doubled the 2005 level. And for the first time in several years, the pace of growth here exceeded that of Washington state.

Over the past decade, taxable retail sales have climbed a cumulative 73% in the two counties. This result places the greater Tri-Cities second among all Eastern Washington metro areas, behind Grant County.

Taxable retail sales in our state doesn’t cover all consumer transactions, or consumption, however. Notably absent…