For a third consecutive year, Quebec's retailers experienced significant growth to top off 2018.
Although the figures have not been finalized yet, sales numbers have increased by 4.2 per cent over last year, according to the Quebec Retail Council.
The Council's president, Léopold Turgeon, stresses that growth has been six percent for each of the previous two years (2016 and 2017). He attributes the good performance to the low value of the Canadian dollar against the U-S dollar, which encourages Quebecers to keep their dollars close to home and buy goods in in the province.
Turgeon expects that trend to continue this year, but added there's one damper: interest rates will remain low, like the value of the Canadian dollar.
The Quebec Retail Council also noted a slight increase in store sales in 2018, while e-commerce continued its rapid growth.