Total Sales for Independent Retail?

June 5, 2007 12:28 PM

What is the total gross dollar sales for the Independent Retail Market in the U.S.?

I am looking for total gross sales for US independent retailers. That is to say non-chain/ franchise businesses. So the indie music store, shoe store, clothing, including thrift stores. I can't seem to find it anywhere online...I can occasionally find by city (i.e. San Francisco) or by market (i.e. record stores) but not everything in one lump sum.

Any thoughts? Global sales or sales by country would be a nice bonus if anyone has any thoughts there.

posted by UMDirector to work & money (5 comments total)

I don't know where you would get the data, but you might want to fine tune the definition a bit so you get useful data. Do you want to include independent business that are not retailers? What about a business owned by an individual that has 3 locations -- will that qualify? Co-op grocery store with 4 locations in 3 towns? Independently owned gas station? What about corporate owned stores that have only one location?

Gross sales figures for a sole proprietorship will usually be kept confidential. Some municipalities that collect sales tax may track this data. This is probably why you are having trouble finding a lump sum.
posted by yohko at 1:01 PM on June 5, 2007

My hope is maybe some answers may come from surveys perhaps via anonymous replies. People have done this for music stores, etc.

I would basically say anything that could be known as indie retail. So yeah a one store corporate would be okay as would a five store indie chain. Basically we are talking about situations wherein the actual owners make the decisions about how to run their store not an office in New York, etc. We are talking about the type of stores that are threatened by wal-mart.
posted by UMDirector at 1:08 PM on June 5, 2007

did you see this recent article in the new york mag?

http://nymag.com/news/features/2007/profit/

it might help...
posted by eatdonuts at 1:50 PM on June 5, 2007

I don't know if what you want is in here, but it seems likely:

The Statistical Abstract of the United States from the US Department of Commerce. It's $50 and comes on a CDROM.

(There's supposed to be an abstract in a PDF file on that page, but the link is a 404.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:59 PM on June 5, 2007

You might be able to find this information for specific retail groups by finding the appropriate member group. For example, there's the chance for indie bookstores that the American Booksellers Association may have this information.
posted by drezdn at 2:10 PM on June 5, 2007