TAXABLE SALES OFF $4.5 MILLION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993                   TAG: 9301150146
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
TAXABLE SALES OFF $4.5 MILLION
Roanoke Valley's taxable sales, a monitor of retail activity, dropped $4.5 million in November from a year ago, the result of a decline of $6.4 million in spending in Roanoke County.
Roanoke had a slim gain of $200,000 and Salem's sales increased $1.7 million, but they were offset by the county's decline, according to a report released Thursday by the State Department of Taxation.
In Western Virginia, 21 localities recorded increases, while 10 others, including a half-dozen cities, had lower taxable sales at the outset of the Christmas shopping season. Martinsville reported no change.
Montgomery County, recording the highest sales outside the Roanoke Valley, had a slight increase of $1.5 million.
Among the other areas with lower sales in November were Bedford and Bedford County, Rockbridge County, Lexington and Buena Vista, Covington, Clifton Forge and Bristol.
The largest increase was the addition of $3.9 million in Craig County, compared with a year ago.
Most of the increases and declines were comparatively small.
Virginia recorded a scant 1.2 percent increase, $44.4 million, for the period.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB