- December 20, 2024
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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 Type | Sales 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 stores | 2.2% |
| Motor vehicle and parts dealers | 2.5% |
| Electronics and appliance stores | 2.7% |
| Gasoline stations | 3% |
| Food and beverage stores | 3.1% |
| Miscellaneous store retailers | 4.6% |
| Clothing and clothing accessories stores | 4.9% |
| Data for May 2023 to May 2024 | |
