Study: Floridians are buying more clothes, fewer couches


Clothing and clothing accessories stores grew by nearly 5% in Florida year-over-year, according to a study by finance platform Swoop.
Clothing and clothing accessories stores grew by nearly 5% in Florida year-over-year, according to a study by finance platform Swoop.
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Floridians are holding back on buying luxury items like furniture and sporting goods, while at the same time they are increasingly purchasing things required for everyday life such as food and clothing, according to a new analysis.

Those were among some of the findings from business funding and savings platform Swoop, which analyzed data from 2023 and 2024 provided by the U.S. Census to determine which sectors in each state were experiencing growth and which saw declines in sales.

The leading sector in Florida is clothing and clothing accessories stores, which saw 4.9% year-over-year growth, according to the analysis. Other sectors dealing in essentials like food and beverage stores and gasoline also saw growth.

When it comes to discretionary spending, Floridians are hitting pause, leading to declines in sales for several sectors. Furniture and home furnishings stores are facing the greatest challenges, with sales down 6.2% compared with 2023, officials say. Stores selling items like sporting goods, musical instruments, books, garden supplies, and health and personal care items experienced declining sales as well.

Here are the 11 sectors that Swoop analysts looked at for its study:

Industry TypeSales Growth
Furniture and home furnishings stores
-6.2%
Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores-6.1%
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers-5%
Health and personal care stores-0.9%
General merchandise stores2.2%
Motor vehicle and parts dealers2.5%
Electronics and appliance stores2.7%
Gasoline stations3%
Food and beverage stores3.1%
Miscellaneous store retailers4.6%
Clothing and clothing accessories stores4.9%
Data for May 2023 to May 2024

 

author

Elizabeth King

Elizabeth is a business news reporter with the Business Observer, covering primarily Sarasota-Bradenton, in addition to other parts of the region. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, she previously covered hyperlocal news in Maryland for Patch for 12 years. Now she lives in Sarasota County.

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