Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993                   TAG: 9312150096
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RETAIL SALES UP 8 MONTHS RUNNING

They increased 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted $178.9 billion on top of a 1.8 percent surge in October, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Although receipts at department stores were disappointing, furniture sales recorded the biggest increase in 10 years and building supply centers and hardware stores did a brisk business.

Economists linked the home-related purchases to mortgage rates, which are near 25-year lows.

The report fits with other signs that the final three months of the year will prove to be 1993's best quarter, with economic growth at about a 4 percent annual pace.

"People have come out of their foxholes," said economist Norman Robertson, an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "There's been a fairly decisive change in attitudes. There's a sense the economy is beginning to pick up momentum . . . and there's a feeling the labor market is on the mend."

Retail sales account for one-third of U.S. economic activity. Some analysts caution they could slip a bit after the new year, but none expect the kind of dramatic pullback that occurred after the holidays last year.

In November, furniture sales soared 3.7 percent, the best since March 1983. Sales at building supply, hardware and garden stores rose 1.1 percent after a 3.4 percent rise a month earlier.

However, sales at department and other general merchandise stores fell 1 percent, nearly reversing a 1.1 percent gain in October.

Auto sales, which soared 5 percent in October, edged down 0.1 percent in November but were still 14 percent ahead of a year ago. Excluding the volatile auto sector, sales rose 0.5 percent last month.

Sales also rose 0.1 percent at food stores and gas stations, 0.5 percent at drug stores and 1.4 at clothing and accessory shops. However, they fell at restaurants and bars, 0.6 percent.