When the recession started to let up in 2010 we saw a rapid re-growth in retail sales. By 2011 the industry was growing at 2006 rates. People finally had some sense of financial security and discretionary income was becoming more common again. Unfortunately, since the recovery peaked in mid 2011, the chart below from Quartz and Atlas, shows that total retail growth has begun to loose steam. While retail is continuing to grow, the growth rate is flattening back too pre-recession rates which is a far cry from its high point in 2006.