Fiserv: Sales fall at small business retailers, restaurants in September
Small business retail sales remained sluggish in September as consumers continued to remain cautious about spending.
Sales for the sector inched down 0.3% in September from August, according to the Fiserv Small Business Index for September 2025. Food and beverage retailers contributed most significantly to the near-term slowdown, with sales decreasing 1.5% month over month. Core retail sales (which excludes gasoline stations, motor vehicle and parts dealers, and building materials) fell 0.6%.
Retail sales rose 1.6% year over year. The growth was led by sporting goods, hobby, and miscellaneous retailers, furniture and appliance retailers, and clothing, show and jewelry retailers.
Discretionary purchases dropped 0.1% month over month and essential spending rose 0.3%. Discretionary spending rose 1.5% year over year, but essential sales grew at nearly double the pace, rising 2.9%.
“Pragmatism continued to guide consumer spending in September, with discretionary purchases slowing and the essentials seeing the most growth,” said Prasanna Dhore, chief data officer at Fiserv. “This continuation of budget-conscious purchasing resulted in slower growth in categories like arts, entertainment, recreation, and retail, while professional services, healthcare and many other essential industries grew.”
Restaurants
Small business restaurant sales increased 0.3% month over month in September and rose 1.2% year over year. The strongest momentum month over month was at bars and pubs, with sales up 1.6% and foot traffic up 1.1%. Full-service restaurants sales rose 0.3%, with a 0.2% increase in foot traffic. Sales at quick-service restaurants edged up 0.1%, with foot traffic rising 0.4%).
[READ MORE: Consumer confidence declines to five-month low in September on job worries]
Fiserv Small Business Index’s is derived from point-of-sale transaction data, including card, cash and check transactions in-store and online across approximately 2 million U.S. small businesses, including hundreds of thousands leveraging the Clover point-of-sale and business management platform.
