盛夏购物复苏:7月份零售额增长1.2%

Retailers had placed much hope on a big midsummer shopping spurt, but July proved to be somewhat lackluster, amid renewed lockdowns and new waves of coronavirus cases. Retail sales grew only 1.2% last month compared to June.

零售商们曾对盛夏购物的激增寄予厚望，但由于新的封锁和新一波的冠状病毒病例，7月份的情况有些黯淡。与6月相比，上月零售额仅增长1.2%。

In July, people bought a lot of electronics to stay entertained at home and appliances for home remodels. They also started shopping for clothes again, got into their cars for trips, stopping to fill up at gas stations, and cautiously went out to eat as more stores and restaurants reopened, the Commerce Department data showed Friday.

今年7月，人们购买了大量的电子产品，在家里消遣，并为家庭改造添置了电器。美国商务部周五公布的数据显示，随着更多商店和餐馆重新开张，他们又开始购买衣服，开车出行，在加油站停下来加油，并谨慎外出就餐。

Retail sales — a measure including spending on gasoline, cars, food and drink — are a major part of the economy. The U.S. is slowly dragging out of the sharpest economic contraction in modern history, as parts of the country still report record spikes in coronavirus cases. Many locales have shuttered their businesses again and reimposed restrictions on public gatherings.

零售销售——包括汽油、汽车、食品和饮料的消费——是经济的重要组成部分。美国正在缓慢摆脱现代史上最严重的经济收缩，而该国部分地区的冠状病毒病例仍在创纪录地激增。许多地方再次关闭了他们的企业，并重新对公众集会施加限制。

Here's where people were spending in July, compared with a month earlier:

与一个月前相比，7月份人们的消费情况如下：

Electronics stores: +22.9%

电子产品商店:+ 22.9%

Gas stations: +6.2%

加油站:+ 6.2%

Clothing and accessories stores: +5.7%

服装及饰品店:+5.7%

Restaurants and bars: +5%

餐厅和酒吧:+5%

Online retailers: +0.7%

在线零售商:+ 0.7%

Grocery stores: +0.4%

杂货店:+ 0.4%

Department stores: +0.1%

百货商店:+ 0.1%

Big-box stores: -0.2%

大超市:-0.2%

Home improvement and gardening stores: -2.9%

家装和园艺商店:-2.9%

Sports, music and other hobby stores: -5%

体育、音乐和其他爱好品商店:-5%

Many restaurants, bars and stores continue to struggle to stay afloat — five months into the pandemic. Tens of millions remain jobless and the boosted unemployment checks, which spurred a wave of spending in May and June, expired at the end of July.

在疫情爆发5个月后，许多餐馆、酒吧和商店仍在挣扎求生。数以千万计的人仍处于失业状态，而在5月和6月刺激支出的失业补助计划也在7月底到期。

Online shopping has been the clear winner during the pandemic. Walmart, Amazon, grocery delivery company Instacart and scores of other online retailers have reported skyrocketing demand. Amazon, for one, doubled profits between April and June, netting $5.2 billion despite spending billions on coronavirus-related costs and hired almost 200,000 new workers.

在大流行期间，网购显然是赢家。沃尔玛、亚马逊、食品杂货配送公司Instacart以及其他数十家在线零售商的需求都出现了飙升。以亚马逊为例，尽管在冠状病毒相关成本上花费了数十亿美元，并雇佣了近20万名新员工，但它在4月至6月间的利润还是翻了一番，净赚52亿美元。

Overall, demand for clothes had taken an especially big hit in the early months of the pandemic, tipping a growing list of major retailers into bankruptcy: department stores Stein Mart, J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus，and others.

总的来说，在疫情爆发的最初几个月，服装需求受到了特别严重的打击，导致越来越多的大型零售商陷入破产境地:斯坦马特百货公司、彭尼百货公司、洛德泰勒和内曼马库斯等百货公司和其他公司。

"Time will tell, but the bottom line is that the economy is far from being out of the woods," National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz wrote last week. "The question is whether it is re-entering the woods."

全美零售联合会首席经济学家杰克·克莱恩兹上周写道:"时间会证明一切，但关键是经济远未走出困境。"“问题是它是否会重新进入森林。”