With Americans honoring Independence Day next week, the Florida Retail Federation (FRF) expects grocers and other retailers to enjoy a surge of shoppers.
Across the nation, Americans are expected to spend more than $7.1 billion on food for the holiday which is more than last year. FRF President and CEO R. Scott Shalley says that will give a boost to grocers across the Sunshine State.
“Independence Day weekend is the most popular time for family and friends to get together for cookouts, picnics and celebrations, and these survey numbers portend great things for retailers this year,” Shalley said on Tuesday. “We continue to see year-over-year increases each shopping weekend in 2017, which shows that the economy is doing well and consumers are feeling confident about their own economic situation and willing to spend more this year.”
Pointing to numbers from the National Retail Federation and conducted by Prosper Insight & Analytics, the FRF noted 219 million Americans are going to celebrate the holiday and 162 million of them will be taking part in a cookout or picnic spending an average of $73.42 per person, up from $71.34 last year.
Almost two-thirds of Americans--65 percent--own an American flag while 53 percent wear patriotic themed clothes and 40 percent own other patriotic decorations. More than a quarter of Americans--28 percent--plan to buy more patriotic items.
Less than half of Americans--44 percent--plan to watch fireworks on Tuesday night while 14 percent will watch a parade. Almost 33 million Americans will hit the road for the long holiday weekend, up from 31 million last year.
Lower gas prices are impacting Independence Day plans. According to the National Retail Federation, only 18 percent of Americans are worried about gas prices, down from 21 percent last year. That’s a dramatic decline from the peak of gas concerns back in 2008 when 59 percent of Americans had concerns about gas prices on Independence Day.
Earlier this week, AAA released a study finding the lowest gas prices for the month of June in Florida since 2005.
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