Retail Firms by Employment Size

Tables/Charts:

Number of Retail and Food Service and Drinking Establishments per Firm, 2007

Sales Size of Retail Firms, 2007

Employment Size of Retail Firms, 2007

Share of Retail Firms by Employment Size, 2007

Summary Points:

By any measure, retailers are predominantly small businesses.

- More than 95 percent of all retailers had only one store outlet.
- Over 90 percent of retail companies registered sales of less than $5 million.
- More than 98 percent of all retail companies employed less than 100 workers.

Numerically, large retailers represent only a small share of the industry

- Only 0.1 percent of total retail companies had more than 100 outlets.
- Less than 1 percent of total retail companies recorded sales in excess of $100 million.
- Less than 1 percent of total retail companies employed 500 or more workers.

Small retail companies employing four or fewer workers account for more than half of all retail firms.

Over 90 percent employ 19 or fewer workers.

Number of Retail and Food Service and Drinking
Establishments per Firm,* 2007
(NAICS Definitions, Number of Firms, and Percent)

Number of Establishments per Firm	Number of Firms	Share of Total**
Total Retail	715399	100.0%
Firms with 1 establishment 2 establishments 3 or 4 establishments 5 to 9 establishments 10 to 24 establishments 25 to 49 establishments 50 to 99 establishments 100+ establishments	684,662 14,859 8,338 4,185 1,968 609 318 460	95.7 2.1 1.2 0.6 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.1
Total Food Service and Drinking	425,500	100.0%
Firms with 1 establishment 2 establishments 3 or 4 establishments 5 to 9 establishments 10+ establishments	410,651 5,716 4,268 2,745 2,120	96.5 1.3 1.0 0.6 0.5

* "Firms" are roughly equivalent to "companies."
** Numbers may not add due to rounding.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Employment Size of Retail Firms,* 2007
(NAICS Definitions and Percent)

Employment Size of Firms	Share of Total Firms
Total	100.00%
0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 19 20 - 99 100 - 499 500 + Less than 100 Less than 20	58.7 20.6 11.4 7.9 1.2 0.3 98.5 90.5

*"Firms" is defined as the total of all establishments owned by a parent company. A firm may consist of a single, independent establishment or it can include subsidiaries or other branch establishments under the same ownership and control.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy.