Canadian retail sales cooled off unexpectedly in April, thanks largely to a decline in the auto sector.

Statistics Canada said Friday that consumer spending in retail stores fell 0.8 % from March to $28.4 billion. That surprised economists, many of whom had forecast an increase of similar size.

Excluding the auto sector – which includes used vehicle sales and parts dealers – retail sales fell by just 0.1%. Retailers in the automotive sector saw by far the largest sales decline, at 2.3%. The food, building supplies, clothing and pharmacy sectors also saw declining sales in April. Sales were up for retailers in the general merchandise, furniture and miscellaneous sectors.

Statistics Canada said new-car dealers suffered a 3.8% sales decline in April. Previously, sales for new car dealers jumped 1.9% in March and 10.5% in February, following six months of falling or stagnant results.

Despite the overall decline, economists said the result was more a dose of reality than a cause for worry.

“This sour result must be put in the perspective that sales finally cooled off after an incredibly torrid start to the year, when they soared at a 20% annual rate in the first three months of 2004,” said BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. chief economist Sherry Cooper. “In that light, it is not a big shock that sales receded. It is much too soon to write off the Canadian consumer, particularly as almost 93,000 full-time jobs were created in April and May, and this report is one of the few Canadian economic indicators in recent weeks that proved disappointing.”