Following two consecutive declines, sales in the personal and household goods subsector rose 2.2 per cent to a record $7.8 billion, said Statistics Canada.
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On a year-over-year basis, prices were up in seven of the eight major components of the main index, led by a 3.2 per cent increase in food as meat prices jumped 6.1 per cent.
Consumer spending has been aided this year by job gains and low interest rates.
In the first six months of the year, retail sales were up 2.2 per cent compared with the first half of 2014.
The cost of living in Canada increased at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent in July, slightly higher than the previous month as food prices got more expensive, even as energy kept getting cheaper.
Canadian retail sales rose more than expected in June, on higher gasoline prices and increased sales of electronics and appliances, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday.
The Bank of Canada estimated the underlying trend in inflation is about 1.5 to 1.7 per cent.
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Automobile prices rose 2.5 per cent in July from a year earlier, up from 2.0 per cent in June. In June, annual CPI advanced 1%. The province’s inflation rate came in at -0.1 per cent for the month.
