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A study says Ohio’s retailers should expect a slight Christmas spending bonus over last year


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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohio retailers are predicted to see a slight boost in spending over last year’s holiday season.It’s the 11th year in a row that stores should be expecting a Christmas bonus.

The 7,500-member Ohio Council of Retail Merchants once again hired the University of Cincinnati Economics Center to do the forecast. Research director Brad Evans said spending should total $32.2 billion, an increase of .7% over last year.

The Easton Shopping Center in Columbus is decorated for Christmas shopping
[Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
“Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus again will account for more than half of the relevant retail spending in Ohio during this holiday season. And we are expecting growth in seven of the nine metro regions across Ohio that we analyzed,” Evans said.

The only two areas expected to decline are Cleveland and Dayton, with Youngstown getting the strongest increase.

  • Youngstown: 6.8% increase
  • Columbus: 5.2% increase
  • Mansfield: 3.7% increase
  • Lima: 2.9% increase
  • Cincinnati: 1.8% increase
  • Akron: 1.5% increase
  • Toledo: 1.5% increase
  • Dayton: .8% decrease
  • Cleveland: 4.4% decrease

In 2022, Ohio saw a 4% increase in holiday spending over the previous year, with a spending total of $31.4 billion. But Evans said, “a very large portion of that was due to inflation. And so as we’re seeing inflation moderate this year, that would certainly be contributing to why we’re seeing a 0.7% growth rate as compared to the previous years.”