Retail sales in April were up 0.5% from March, according to the latest Census Bureau economic data release. That was true even when stripping out sales in volatile categories like automobiles and gasoline. As sales are growing, so too are business inventories, which were up 0.9% in March compared to February. Those headline numbers look decent on the surface. But Jessica Ramirez, co-founder and managing director of the Consumer Collective, said there’s something to keep in mind: Prices are high.High and rising fast, in fact, according to this week’s inflation data. The jump in the headline numbers is really about stuff getting more expensive, and not about more stuff getting sold. Ramirez said in the face of all that, consumers are making hard choices.“Opting out for some items while they're purchasing others and just being extremely edited in the way that they're shopping,” she said.Ramirez said that could mean a summer road trip instead of a long distance flight. But even the basics are putting a dent in wallets and bank accounts.“Fifty-nine percent of consumers say they are dipping into savings to cover their everyday expenses,” she said.That puts a big question mark on how much consumers will be able to keep spending in the months to come. If retail sales do fall off, the stores don’t want to be left holding the bag. So they’re not exactly packing their storerooms, said Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University.“ Retailers have dialed in inventories relative to where their demand is right now,” he said, adding that it should hold true over the summer. “We can expect caution, from retailers over the coming months because they're just not sure where that consumer is going to be at.”Some wholesalers, on the other hand, are building inventories, said Zac Rogers, a supply chain management professor at of Colorado State University. That’s because inflation isn’t gonna disappear tomorrow.“The cost of fuel keeps going up. And so right now you're betting against, ‘Well, if I bring things in faster, maybe I can get them in before the cost of fuel goes up even more than it is already,’” he said.Rogers said demand for some big-ticket items might be soft, like cars and furniture. “Whirlpool had that announcement last week that nobody's buying refrigerators anymore,” he said.But there are plenty of retail events later this year that wholesalers want to be ready for.“Back to school is still gonna happen in a couple months. Christmas is still gonna happen in December,” he said. And wholesalers may want to buy all that stuff now, Rogers said, rather than risk paying more for it later.