Stores took fewer dollars at the till for a fifth successive month, prompting one industry leader to describe retail as "an industry in crisis".

Retail sales fell 4.5 percent in June, as shoppers continued to tighten their purse strings, figures released by the Department of Statistics yesterday showed.

Sales volume, which takes inflation into account, was down 6.8 percent [EmDash] making June the 14th consecutive month of declining sales volume in a trend that goes back to May 2008.

Analysis included in the Retail Sales Index (RSI) showed apparel stores were particularly hard hit, with gross sales down 20 percent compared to June last year [EmDash] a seventh consecutive month of double-digit sales declines.

As consumers shied away from purchasing discretionary items, the only retailers to boost sales were food stores, which saw a 6.2 percent rise on the back of a 5.2 percent year-on-year increase in food prices.

Kristi Grayston, chairwoman of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce's Retail Division, described the long-term downward trend as "frightening" from the viewpoint of her members.

"Retail is an industry in crisis," she said. If the current trend continued, businesses would disappear, she added.

Ms Grayston believes consumers are opting to spend less. The result was that jobs and businesses were in danger of disappearing in an "all-Bermudian industry".

But she believed that a relatively small change in the shoppers' spending habits could reverse the industry's deterioration.

"People are making a conscious decision not to spend money," Ms Grayston, who runs Pulp & Circumstance Ltd. said.

"There are lots of people in Bermuda for whom nothing has changed during the financial crisis. They still have their jobs, they got their raise this year and their mortgage payments have not gone up but they're not spending.

"The figures show that $4.4 million less was spent in Bermuda in June this year than last year. That's about $70 to $75 per person. So it wouldn't take much to turn it around.

"Individuals don't realise how much they can make a difference."

Retailers were suffering worldwide, she said. She pointed to the "3/50 Project" in the US, which urges consumers to spend $50 a month in their three most valued local businesses to help ensure their survival.

Ms Grayston, who closed one of her own stores in Dockyard recently because of slow trade, said retailers were already looking forward to the build-up to the Christmas holidays, in the hope that they would prove better than last year.

"For some sectors, 30 to 40 percent of their sales come in the holiday period," Ms Grayston said.

Apparel stores were apparently suffering from Internet and overseas sales, she added.

Complaints over the choice of products available in Bermuda's stores would turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy if people continued to buy from overseas rather than go to Island outlets.

And complaints about price were also harsh. "Everything in Bermuda costs more," Ms Grayston said. "When people go out for a meal, they accept that, but when it comes to retail they seem to think it's unfair."

Bermuda retailers did not buy the large volumes from suppliers that US rivals did and so could not negotiate such low prices, she added. And they also had to cope with the cost of duty and shipping.

Overseas spending which, in the RSI, includes goods declared by returning residents at the airport and not goods bought online [EmDash] went down by two percent to $5 million in June. Bermuda consumers' total spending on retail goods was $100.4 million.

Service stations were hit by a fall in gasoline prices which saw their sales decline by 17.4 percent from last year, while motor vehicle sales also plunged by nearly 12 percent.

There was evidence in a slowdown in construction, as building material stores' sales dipped 8.5 percent a third successive month of decline.