The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the retail sales numbers from Quarter Three of 2023. Knox County Area Partnership President Ken Springer shares how Monmouth and Galesburg measured up:
“This is data that talks about consumer spending in retail sales in both the Galesburg and Monmouth markets, which are tracked separately by the Department of Revenue. The latest information that was released if for the third quarter of 2023 compared to quarter three of 2022. It was a great quarter for Monmouth. Total retail sales tax receipts in Monmouth were up 8.4 percent over the same period in 2022, a nice, nice gain for Monmouth. Galesburg, not as hot, sales tax receipts were down slightly over the same period, down about 1.5 percent. We actually track retail tax performance across twelve different markets and average growth for the quarter was about 4.4 percent.”
Over the past seven quarters, Springer reports Monmouth showed growth in five, while Galesburg had growth in three.