Tumwater's growth likely can be attributed to its growing retail sector, including a new Walmart store, which opened on Littlerock Road in July. Other stores include Costco Wholesale, Fred Meyer and Albertsons. A Walgreens also opened in Tumwater about the same time.
That retail growth resulted in a 3.57 percent boost in overall taxable retail sales in Tumwater, rising to $108.4 million in the third quarter from $104.7 million in the third quarter of 2010, the data show.
Here are the numbers for the county, as well as for Olympia, Lacey and Yelm in the same year-over-year period.
-Thurston County: Fell 5.12 percent to $952.2 million from $1 billion.
-Olympia: Fell 7.59 percent to $421.4 million from $456 million.
-Lacey: Fell 2.84 percent to $232.8 million from $239.6 million.
-Yelm: Fell 8.91 percent to $37.3 million from $41 million.
The state Department of Revenue also releases a separate category of taxable retail sales called retail trade, which is considered a better measure of consumer purchases. The data show:
-Thurston County: Fell 2.02 percent to $482.9 million from $492.8 million.
-Olympia: Fell 2.25 percent to $213.9 million from $218.9 million.
-Lacey: Fell 8.04 percent to $139.2 million from $151.3 million.
-Tumwater: Rose 5.45 percent to $58.4 million from $55.4 million.
-Yelm: Fell 1.88 percent to $22.6 million from $23 million.
Revenue does not disclose specific businesses and the amount of taxable retail sales they generate, but they will release that data by industry sector, such as whether it was construction, sporting goods or mining, for example.
Taxable retail sales generated by general merchandise stores in Tumwater rose 12.8 percent to $33.2 million from $29.4 million. Olympia's numbers were pulled lower by construction, which fell 26.5 percent to $57 million from $77.6 million. In Lacey, general merchandise stores fell 11.1 percent to $52.2 million from $58.7 million and food and beverage stores fell 13.4 percent to $8.1 million from $9.4 million.
The state overall generated $27.3 billion in taxable retail sales, an increase of 3.2 percent from the third quarter of 2010.
