Anyone looking for a franchise opportunity in the cafe or takeaway business will be pleased to see the industry appears to be the shining light in retail darkness as the ABS Retail Trade figures are released.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said the figures just released showing a 1.4 percent fall February in sales was further evidence retailers are still on the rocky road to recovery from the economic downturn.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said Only cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services experienced any growth in sales (1.8 percent), reflecting consumers’ willingness to indulge in small discretionary spend, like going out for lunch. However, it’s clear shoppers still view larger purchases, new outfits and furniture, as a luxury they can’t afford.

Retailers have copped a double whammy on sales last month. February is always a hard time for families dealing with back to school costs as well as credit card bills from Christmas causing a financial ‘hangover’ for many consumers.

But this year there was the added pressure of interest rate rises before Christmas as consumers tightened the belts on their discretionary spend to cope with increases in mortgage repayments, Zimmerman said.

Sales fell across five industry groups: department stores (-3.9 percent), clothing, footwear and other personal accessory retailing (-3.9 percent), food retailing (-1.7 percent), household goods retailing (-1.3 percent) and other retailing (-0.8 percent).