Home stores opening in Minden and Gardnerville

The opening of two home stores may help further improve the taxable sales picture in Douglas County.

Hajoca Kitchen and Bath Showroom has opened in the former COD Garage in Minden, while Harbor Freight announced it would open in the former Bealls in Gardnerville on Veterans Day.

While construction continues in the county, taxable sales of building material and garden equipment and supplied dropped 9 percent in August to $7.68 million. Furniture stores saw a 29.3 percent decline to $1.45 million. Electronics and appliance sales were down 9 percent to $2 million in August, continuing a trend that started in July.

Douglas merchants reported $103.49 million in sales for August, according to the most recent numbers released by the Nevada Department of Taxation.

That’s up 5 percent for the month and 4.6 percent for the fiscal year, so far.

The three categories associated with the Stateline casinos, including food services and drinking places, accommodations and amusement, gambling and recreation all posted positive numbers compared with August 2022.

The largest category in the county, food services and drinking places generated $12.97 million in taxable sales, up 1.2 percent. Accommodations were up 11.2 percent to $6.26 million, while gambling was up $4.67 million.

General merchandise stores, including both Walmarts and the Target, generated $11.42 million, up 1.5 percent, while nonstore retailers, including online sellers, were up 9 percent to $9.98 million during the month.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers were down 9.3 percent in August a reversal of a big July, bringing in $4.57 million. Douglas County doesn’t have any auto dealers, though the state is supposed to attribute taxes from sales to Douglas residents in other jurisdictions to the county.

The manufacturing sector continued to slide with $7.4 million in sales during August, down 20 percent from $9.3 million in August 2022.

One sector that has enjoyed a resurgence is rental and leasing services which was up 50.4 percent to $3.1 million in August and up to $5.3 million since July 1, a total increase of 40 percent.

This opens the second year in which Douglas must generate its own sales tax revenue.

Stateline gaming numbers continue to lag behind last year’s during the first quarter of the fiscal year.

According to information released Tuesday, the casinos took in $26.34 million, down 5.66 percent from September 2022.

The casinos have taken in $83.79 million, down from $89.7 million since July 1, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Stateline accounts for most of the gaming revenue generated in Douglas County.

Casinos in the East Fork and Carson City townships were up .56 percent to $11.9 million in September. Those casinos are still 1.31 percent down for the fiscal year with $34.6 million.

Of the $1.27 billion generated statewide from gambling in September, $1 billion is won in Clark County and $91 million in Washoe County.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Douglas County had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate during the month of September.

State figures indicated there were 1,081 jobless workers and 22,876 employed.

Unemployment is down from 5.1 percent in August, but up from 3.9 percent in September 2022.

The size of the county’s labor force grew 522 over the past year to 22,876 workers.