Sacramento retail spending went up in October, report says. Here’s what we’re buying

The pandemic has brought economic turmoil and forced people to stay home much more, but shoppers in the greater Sacramento metro area also spent more on retail this October than in 2019, according to a recent report from MasterCard.

In an analysis of the top 20 U.S. markets by population, the finance and credit card company found that the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto area ranked No. 8 in year-to-year growth, with 2.6% more retail sales last month compared to one year earlier. Atlanta topped the list at 5.4%.

Seventeen of the 20 surveyed saw growth. Sacramento was the only California market among those 17; the Los Angeles metro area broke even, and the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area dipped by 0.8%. Chicago also saw a small decline, under 1%.

The analysis, coming from MasterCard’s “SpendingPulse” data aggregator, looked at retail services excluding auto costs. MasterCard in a news release wrote that the nationwide trends, of total U.S. retail sales growing 6% excluding auto and gas, reflect “expectations for an earlier, expanded holiday season.”

So, what are we spending the money on?

The MasterCard report said the Sacramento metro area spent over 25% more on furniture this October than last year, against a nationwide average of 20%.

This seems logical during the pandemic — countless workers have spent the past several months working from home as the COVID-19 crisis turned their jobs remote. Undoubtedly, some realized they needed a bigger desk or comfier chair to do that.

And, as more meals were consumed at home due to coronavirus protocols closing restaurants or forcing their indoor dining rooms closed, grocery sales “skyrocketed” by 7.1% nationwide, the report said.

Sacramento had the third-largest grocery increase, at 8.8%, of the 20 market areas from the MasterCard survey.

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