July was flat to May and up 2.3% to July 2015. This was a miss to expectations. With that said, there were some major bright spots:

The top 3 growth businesses remained the same:

Non-store/online retailers posted a record 14.1% gain over last year. This is about even to May which posted a 14.2% gain and April posting a 12.2% year over year gain. Safe to assume the Prime Day bonanza contributed to this strong number.
Heath and personal care stores posted the 3nd largest year over year increase for June with a 7.8% gain
Building material & garden equipment slowed from the 7.6% gain last month with Restaurants picking up a 5.0% gain and the 3rd spot. This is surprising as many Restaurants have posted disappointing comps recently.

On the downside, the bottom 3 (excluding gasoline) remained the same:

Department Stores multi-decade decline continued with a decline of 4.0% year over year which is actually slightly better than the 5%+ drop two months ago.
The Electronics vacuum of sales to online continues with a decline of 3.8%. No surprise here as Non-store's gain is usually electronics' loss.
Clothing & Clothing accessories stores saw a decline of 1.2% year over year

Last month we mentioned Non-store (online) being in a steep inflection point. This continues as the assault on grocers has picked up steam recently. The continued weakness in Electronics and Department Stores with combined weakness in Clothing Stores highlights why Non-store (online) is doing so well. Many of the same recurring themes here.

June Retail Sales can be found here.

May Retail Sales can be found here.

April Retail Sales can be found here.

March Retail Sales can be found here.

February Retail Sales can be found here.

January Retail Sales can be found here.

December Retail Sales can be found here.