Taxable retail sales increased 7.4 percent to $117.1 billion during calendar year 2013 compared to 2012, according to the Washington State Department of Revenue.

Retail trade, a subset of all sales that excludes non-retail sectors such as construction and services, rose 6.4 percent to $53.7 billion.

Within the retail sector:

• New and used car sales rose 12.1 percent to $10 billion
• Building materials, garden equipment and supplies increased 9.6 percent to $5 billion
• Apparel and accessories grew 4.2 percent to $4.1 billion
• E-commerce and mail order went up 23.6 percent to $1.7 billion

The construction industry saw large gains as well, with an overall increase of 15.8 percent to $19.3 billion. Building construction drove most of those gains, with a 17.1 percent increase over 2012 taxable sales.