In 2022, domestic sales in the domestic trade sector grew slightly by 1.8% over 2021, exceeding pre-pandemic (2019) levels by +22.9%. This advance was driven by higher sales in supermarkets and hypermarkets (+2.3%), hardware stores (+0.5%), pharmacies and apothecaries (+10.3%), and books and stationery (+80.2%). In contrast, this performance was attenuated by the reduction of sales in department stores (-7.4%) and home equipment (-10.4%), associated to a lower demand in the latter items due to the prioritization of food and health expenditures by the population.
