Taxable retail sales increased 4.2 percent to $27.9 billion during the fourth quarter of 2011compared to year-earlier results, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported.

Retail trade, a subset of all sales that counts only retail store sales and excludes other sectors such as construction and services, was up 3.6 percent to $13.3 billion.

Among major industry groups, construction rose 5.8 percent to $4.3 billion; accommodations and food services rose 5.7 percent to $2.9 billion; motor vehicles and parts rose 6.5 percent to $2.6 billion; general merchandise stores was up 0.1 percent to $3.1 billion, and miscellaneous retailers was up 6.9 percent to $1.6 billion.