The group's collective sales of indoor furniture were preliminarily pegged at $233.2 million in February, down from the revised $275.5 million in January and a 1.0% decline from the $235.6 million rung-up in February 2011.

Sales of household appliances totaled a preliminary $206.4 million in January, down from the revised $220.5 million in January but up a modest 1.2% over the $204.0 million sold in February 2011.

The group's combined sales of consumer electronics (including computers, cameras and other devises such as cell phones and video game players) were pegged at $417.3 million for the second month of the year, down considerably from the revised $510.2 million for January as well as a 12.6% decline from the $477.3 million tallied in February 2011.

Home furnishings sales - which cover everything from floor covering to lamps and lighting, decorative accessories and wall art - totalled a preliminary $190.5 million in February, down from January's revised take of $220.5 million. Once again, this was the star performer among the four big ticket categories as sales leapt 8.0% over the $176.4 million recorded for February 2011.

While the dollar volumes for the group are preliminary estimates, they are unadjusted for seasonality or other factors.

In addition to its monthly report on retail store sales and its quarterly report on retail sales by commodity, Statistics Canada also reports on sales by commodity for what is termed as its group of large retailers. These are companies that, for the most part, have stores across the country or are dominant players in their home province.

For the big ticket home category - including furniture, home furnishings, appliances and consumer electronics - the group of large retailers includes: the Brick Group; the Sony Store; Leon's Furniture; InterTan Canada, operators of The Source; IKEA Canada; BMTC Group; and, Best Buy Canada, operators of Best Buy and Future Shop well as the Calgary-based, 27-unit CE specialist Visions Electronics, among others.

Several of this country's largest general merchandise store operators with active big ticket home goods sales are also included. Among these are: Hudson's Bay Company (HBC); Sears Canada; Wal-Mart Canada; and, Canadian Tire Corp., among others.

However, this report isn't directly comparable to the standard retail sales report, as the product categories are somewhat different.