Restaurants across Washoe County did a brisk business in August, helping feed a double-digit jump in taxable sales in a month packed with special events led by Hot August Nights.
The monthly report by the Nevada Department of Taxation showed it was a robust month, too, for other key sectors generating taxable sales as the greater Reno-Sparks area’s total for August topped $757 million for a 15.2 percent overall increase compared with August 2016.
Among the major sales generators were merchant wholesale business, up 13.1 percent; automobile sales and auto parts, up 5.9 percent; building supplies, up 12.3 percent; and general merchandise stores, up 8.1 percent.
A strong August showed elsewhere across Northern Nevada, too:
Carson City: Taxable sales totaled $92.8 million, a 9 percent improvement from a year earlier, led by a 20.1 percent rise in building materials sales, a 14.7 percent rise in general merchandise store sales, a 7 percent rise in restaurant sales, and a 2.5 percent increase in auto and auto parts sales.
Douglas County: Taxable sales totaled $64 million for a 2.8 percent rise year over year, including building materials, up 10.8 percent; general merchandise stores, up 4.2 percent, and restaurants, up 0.3 percent. Sales in the merchant wholesaler sector fell 6.8 percent.
Lyon County: Taxable sales rose 31.2 percent over the year, much of it pegged to rental and leasing services, up 146.5 percent; with other notable increases in restaurants, up 17.9 percent; and auto and auto parts, up 11.8 percent.
Churchill County: Taxable sales totaled $25.9 million for a 17.2 percent rise over the year, including general merchandise stores, up 5.6 percent; and auto and auto parts, up 5.2 percent. Churchill’s restaurant-related sales fell 11.2 percent.
Statewide, taxable sales, the single-biggest generator of revenue for state government, rose 3.3 percent in August over the same month in 2016.
