Retail sales rise 1.2% in August, Toronto up 4.0%

Canadian retail sales rose 1.2 per cent to $74.6 billion in August, with sales up in all nine subsectors, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers led the increase, rising 1.2 per cent. New car dealers were up 1.5 per cent after a 1.4 per cent decline in July. In volume terms, which strips out price changes, retail sales also rose 1.2 per cent.

Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers, climbed 1.1 per cent after falling 0.7 per cent in July. Food and beverage retailers rose 1.1 per cent, their first increase in three months, and general merchandise retailers gained 1.0 per cent after a 1.7 per cent drop the month before. Health and personal care retailers rose 1.6 per cent, their 10th straight monthly gain.

Gasoline stations and fuel vendors posted a 1.7 per cent increase in dollar terms, the first rise in three months. In volume terms their sales fell 0.5 per cent, which suggests higher prices rather than more fuel sold. That fits with Statistics Canada’s industrial product price data showing a sharp run-up in energy costs.

Sales rose in six provinces. Ontario led in dollar terms at 2.2 per cent to $28.5 billion, and sales in the Toronto census metropolitan area jumped 4.0 per cent. British Columbia rose 2.1 per cent to $10.0 billion, and sales in the Vancouver area were up 2.1 per cent. Alberta fell 0.1 per cent, held back by lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers. Quebec rose 0.2 per cent, Manitoba 1.6 per cent and Saskatchewan 1.1 per cent. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick each fell 0.6 per cent.

Retail e-commerce sales rose 1.1 per cent to $5.6 billion, or 7.6 per cent of total retail trade.

Statistics Canada’s advance estimate suggests retail sales rose 0.7 per cent in September. The agency calls the figure unofficial and said it will be revised. It was calculated from responses from 58.5 per cent of surveyed companies, compared with an average final response rate of 86.8 per cent over the previous 12 months.

For workers, retail is one of the country’s largest employers, so a rebound in sales matters to hours and hiring in stores and dealerships. Sales figures alone do not show whether retailers are adding staff, though. Monthly sales are volatile, and August’s gain follows a weaker July, so one month does not establish a trend. Our look at Ontario’s employment insurance rolls shows the labour market is sending mixed signals, and readers have written to us about the pressure on household budgets from tariffs.

The figures are seasonally adjusted and in current dollars unless noted, and are subject to revision. Statistics Canada said the revisions can be large for recent months.

How we did this: we used Statistics Canada’s Retail trade, August 2026 release in The Daily on Oct. 23, 2026, which draws on table 20-10-0056-01. We compared each figure with the agency’s own prior-month numbers. We did not ask any retailer or government office for comment on this data release.

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