Election may turn retail slump around SHOPPERS stayed away from department stores in droves in July, leaving annual retail sales growing at their slowest rate in half a century, but the election offers hope of a turnaround, a leading economist claims. As the Reserve Bank kept official interest rates on hold at their record low yesterday, it emerged that retail spending grew by only 0.1 per cent over the month to July, to $21.82 billion, only a quarter the pace expected, thanks to a near 8 per cent plunge in spending at department stores, and leaving annual growth at 50-year lows for the second month in a row.