Retail sales in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday - coming in at A$35.091 billion.
That beat forecasts for an increase of 1.5 percent following the 3.9 percent contraction in the previous month.
Individually, sales were up for food (0.3 percent on month), household goods (1.1 percent), clothing (6.5 percent), department store sales (8.8 percent, other (2.9 percent and cafes and restaurants (1.2 percent.
On a yearly basis, retail sales climbed 7.5 percent.
