---
source: U.S. Census Bureau
url: https://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf
document_type: pdf
date_retrieved: 2026-04-21
period: March 2026
parent_publication: Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services
indicators_covered: [Retail Sales YoY, Retail Sales MoM, Retail Trade (ex food services) YoY, Retail Trade (ex food services) MoM, Nonstore retailers YoY, Food services & drinking places YoY]
---

# Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services — March 2026

**Release Date:** Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 8:30 AM EDT  
**Release Number:** CB26-63

## Headline Estimates (Seasonally Adjusted)

- **Total retail and food services sales (March 2026):** $752.1 billion
- **Month-over-month change:** +1.7% (±0.4%)
- **Year-over-year change:** +4.0% (±0.5%) from March 2025
- **January–March 2026 cumulative change:** +3.7% (±0.4%) vs same period 2025

- **Retail trade sales (ex food services):**
  - MoM: +1.9% (±0.5%)
  - YoY: +4.2% (±0.5%)

- **Nonstore retailers (e-commerce, etc.):** YoY +10.1% (±1.8%)
- **Food services & drinking places:** YoY +2.4% (±1.9%)

## Table 1 — Estimated Monthly Sales (Seasonally Adjusted, $ millions)

| Kind of Business (NAICS) | March 2026 | February 2026 | % chg. MoM | % chg. YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail & food services, total | 752,063 | 739,772 | 1.7% | 4.0% |
| Retail, total | 651,843 | 639,691 | 1.9% | 4.2% |
| Motor vehicle & parts dealers (441) | 139,627 | 138,985 | 0.5% | -2.1% |
| Auto & other motor veh. dealers (4411,4412) | 127,913 | 127,169 | 0.6% | -2.4% |
| Furniture & home furn. stores (442) | 11,301 | 11,059 | 2.2% | -0.8% |
| Electronics & appliance stores (443) | 7,982 | 7,914 | 0.9% | 5.2% |
| Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers (444) | 41,615 | 41,312 | 0.7% | 2.6% |
| Food & beverage stores (445) | 84,549 | 83,967 | 0.7% | 0.0% |
| Grocery stores (4451) | 76,341 | 75,687 | 0.9% | 0.2% |
| Health & personal care stores (446) | 39,866 | 39,686 | 0.5% | 1.6% |
| Gasoline stations (447) | 60,571 | 52,465 | 15.5% | 18.1% |
| Clothing & clothing accessories stores (448) | 27,837 | 27,829 | 0.0% | 7.2% |
| Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores (451) | 8,457 | 8,454 | 0.0% | 3.8% |
| General merchandise stores (452) | 78,565 | 77,778 | 1.0% | 2.5% |
| Department stores (4522) | 3,289 | 3,157 | 4.2% | 0.8% |
| Miscellaneous store retailers (453) | 16,041 | 16,189 | -0.9% | 9.8% |
| Nonstore retailers (454) | 135,432 | 134,053 | 1.0% | 10.1% |
| Food services & drinking places (722) | 100,220 | 100,081 | 0.1% | 2.4% |

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey, April 21, 2026. Advance estimates (a); preliminary (p); revised (r). GAFO sector not shown in full detail.

## Reliability Notes

Estimates based on a sample of ~4,800 firms. Standard errors and confidence intervals are provided in Table 3 of the full report. The 90% confidence interval for the total retail & food services YoY change includes ±0.5 percentage points. Advance estimates are subject to revision; median advance-to-preliminary revision for total month-to-month change is 0.0 pp.

## Next Release

Next report (April 2026 data): May 14, 2026 at 8:30 AM EDT.