Sales across the city of Durango in March did not keep pace with last year, city sales tax records show.
The city collected $1.8 million in March, about 1.3 percent less than it collected in March 2016, City Finance Director Julie Brown said at a Business Improvement District meeting.
Sales tax collections for the first quarter, which include sales made in December, were up 1.2 percent to about $7.4 million compared with the same period last year, she said.
The downtown area sales tax collections for the first quarter were $1.8 million, or about 0.83 percent more than the same period last year, city data showed.
If marijuana sales tax collections are not included, the sales tax collections are flat, said Tim Walsworth, executive director of BID.
“It certainly feels like we’re seeing a slowing of growth,” he said.
Of 17 industry categories in the Central Business District, nine saw sales tax declines in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, city data showed.
Marijuana sales had the greatest gains, increasing 53 percent to $2.8 million in the first quarter.
Gift and gallery shop sales saw the steepest decline, down 15 percent to about $2.2 million.
Jackson Clark, Toh-Atin Gallery owner, said his business did not decline, but it is possible that fewer visitors spent time in town shopping because the snow at Purgatory Resort was good most of the winter.
He expects the summer will be busy, especially because the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning about terrorism in Europe and more people are likely to travel domestically.
“I’m sure that we’re going to have a real strong second quarter and third quarter,” he said.
While retail stores nationally have been hurt by internet sales, Toh-Atin developed an extensive email list of customers and it’s an important part of the business, he said. Most online customers have been in the gallery previously, he said.
“The difference is that people are not nervous about you if they know you and they trust you,” he said.
At Overland Sheepskin Co., sales were a bit off in January, but the store had its biggest December since 2005. In March and April, sales were up as well, said Manager Betsy Shewmake.
Shewmake said the specialty clothing store is not insulated from the move to online sales, but it’s not pronounced because so many sales are made on impulse, she said.
Overland is part of a chain of 15 stores and the company is planning more storefronts, she said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com