San José, CA – On Friday, February 14, the Department of Commerce released its report on Retail Sales for January 2025. For those hoping for a strong report on Valentine’s Day, there was no love as retail sales fell 0.9%. While this report was seasonally adjusted for the fact that sales in January are typically lower than December, it is not adjusted for inflation. With inflation up 0.5% in January according to the Department of Labor’s report earlier in the week, it is likely the real, or inflation adjusted sales fell more than 1% in one month, a very weak report.