Into the third month of 2025, questions remain in the projected retail sales numbers for the calendar year, reports Knox County Area Partnership President Ken Springer:
“In general, a lot of folks are pretty pessimistic. We keep hearing from consumer surveys that Americans are trying to rein back their spending, but when you actually look at the numbers, people haven’t really pulled back their spending. They are still spending more than ever, and retail industry people are expecting calendar year growth in 2025 of between three and five percent, but the big asterisk is none of those projections take into account what is happening with trade right now. Just based on what I am seeing from advisors that I follow and notices that we get sent about the impacts of trade, it is a real whiplash right now. I don’t think really anybody can with a clear eye, crystal ball tell you what is going to happen in 2025.”
