Retail spending in August was a box-office hit.
Sales rose 5.3 percent year on year in August, thanks to huge gains at movie theaters, according to a recent market analysis by real estate firm Colliers.
“Retail remained resilient in August even as inflation continued to squeeze household budgets,” the report said.
Among specific brands, sales surged most at AMC Theaters (69.9 percent) and Regal Cinemas (61.8 percent) thanks to a booming summer.
The industry generated $4.8 billion in gross income from May to August, the highest such amount in 13 years.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day was the top grossing movie of the season, bringing in $923.5 million and making it the highest-grossing summer movie in history.
The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, Obsession and Michael rounded out the top-five grossing movies of the summer.
Colliers’ retail data punctuates the movie industry’s renaissance. Before the pandemic, cinema faced an ambivalent decade – gross sales rose year-on-year five times and fell five times, according to Box Office Mojo.
But the industry came roaring back after 2020, posting gains in four of the past five years.
While yearly sales have yet to reach the $10 billion mark – a milestone it hit every year from 2009 to 2019 – the industry is feeling hopeful.
“I am constantly having conversations with studio heads, and you can sense an optimism that they haven’t felt in a long time,” actor Seth Rogen said in a July article from Variety.
Other retail sectors that saw big gains in August include Crunch Fitness, Five Below, Ross, Trader Joe’s and Hobby Lobby.
The number of items sold – “volume” – was up 1.7 percent. Colliers noted that the gap between sales growth and volume growth, 5.3 percent vs. 1.7 percent, was due to inflation.
Items are more expensive, so consumers are spending more.
Other retail sectors enjoyed solid growth despite the average consumer’s struggle with affordability, the study said.
“Big-ticket categories defied budget pressures,” it noted. “Electronics sales jumped 7.9% and home improvement sales rose 5.2%.”
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