Jacksonville's sluggish retail sales are down 8% year-to-date

Cherokee County appears to be in an economic downturn.

According to a report issued by the State Comptroller's office, every city in Cherokee County with the exception of Rusk, New Summerfield and Wells, posted fewer sales in August, compared to the same period a year ago.

Leading the charge into negative numbers was Alto, with a sales drop of 27.19 percent, followed by Jacksonville, with a startling 20.92 percent reduction in sales.

Cuney lagged behind with a 4.21 percent drop in sales.

Posting sales increases were Wells, 28.88 percent, Rusk, 27.54 percent and New Summerfield, 5.53 percent.

In the chart below, the final column of figures shows the year-to-date sales for individual cities as well as Cherokee County.

Jacksonville shoppers appear to be headed to Tyler, as the largest city in the county is posting an 8.09 drop in sales for the first eight months of the year.

Cuney and Wells lead the county in that same category with 24.82 and 20.87 percent increases, respectively.

Rusk's sales base is showing steady growth with an 11.49 percent increase year-to-date.

State Comptroller Susan Combs said that the overall Texas sales base grew by seven percent during August.