Tasmanian retail sales fell in August, after reaching a record level in July.
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated Tasmanian retail turnover fell by $7.5 million in August to $654 million in seasonally adjusted terms.
July's $661.5 million total was the highest on record.
National sales dropped by 1.7 per cent in August as lockdowns continued to hurt the economy.
The ABS said it was a third consecutive fall.
"Retail turnover continues to be negatively impacted by lockdown restrictions, with each of the eastern mainland states experiencing falls in line with their respective level of restrictions," the ABS' Ben James said.
Sales in New South Wales fell by 3.5 per cent and Victorian sales dropped by 3 per cent.
State figures for spending on various retail types are expected in early October.
The July figures suggested Tasmanians were spending more on food than ever before.
Supermarket and grocery stores notched a monthly record of $249.7 million in sales in July, the ABS estimated.
That was an increase of $1.3 million compared with June.
Cafes, restaurants and catering services got in on the act, notching a monthly record of $37.2 million, an increase of $1.9 million compared with June.
Spending on essential items such as food and clothing grew strongly in recent months, state Treasury analysis of ABS turnover figures to July showed.
However, spending growth on discretionary items (wants, rather than needs) had effectively stalled since the second half of last year.
Tasmanian retail crashed in the first half of last year as the pandemic struck, before rebounding extremely strongly as big job losses became big job gains and the increase to the JobSeeker payment gave people on welfare a substantial lift in spending power.