June 18, 2025
Consumer spending this spring in Sioux Falls have been stable in certain categories and have become a little stronger in others, according to the city’s latest financial report.
The revenues of the sales tax increased by 1.8% in May compared to the same period last year, which largely represents the sales of April.
This leaves the city a global growth of 1% in the first five months of the year.
“This is compared to 1.5% where we finished the year, and last year, we were at 3%,” finance director Shawn Pritchett said on Tuesday.
“We will continue to monitor this while we are entering the rest of this quarter and the last two quarters of the year.”
By sector, sales continue to show “weakness at all levels, both on the side of the company and the consumer,” said Pritchett.
The wholesale trade increased by 6%, “so it was positive to see,” he said, while wood and manufacturing continue to look.
Grocery sales, which had been stable, increased by 5%. The department stores, which constitute the largest sector of the sales tax, increased by 5%, while remote retail has shown the greatest growth to 16%.
The entertainment tax rebounded a little in May, increased by 3.8% compared to the same era last year.
“This is still motivated by restaurants – they increased by around 3% last month – accommodation arrived a little loud at 5%, but consumption establishments were flat.”
For the year, the entertainment tax is down 1.5%, but a “fairly significant” correction which was made by the State a few months ago is “to really reject this number,” said Pritchett.
The accommodation tax is essentially stable for the year, he said.
Inflation reached a little increase at 2.4% in May, against 2.3% in April “but (is) still quite stable,” said Pritchett. “These are the lowest that has been since March 2021, so still hovering in the right direction.”