Retail Firm Births and Deaths

Tables/Charts:

Retail Firm Births and Deaths by Employment Size, 2006–2007

Share of Retail Firm Births and Deaths by Employment Size, 2006–2007

Births and Deaths of Retail Secondary Locations by Employment Size, 2006–2007

Share of Births and Deaths of Retail Secondary Locations by Employment Size, 2006–2007

Summary Points:

Firms with less than 4 employees comprised over three quarters of all new retail firms from 2006-2007.

However, the majority of retail firms going out of business during the same period also had 4 or fewer employees.

Larger retail firms (those with 100 or more employees) are the most likely to expand or close secondary locations.

Retail Firm Births and Deaths by Employment Size,* 2006–2007
(NAICS Definitions and Percent)

Employment Size of Firms	Firm Births Share of Total	Firm Deaths Share of Total
Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 19 20 - 99 100 - 499 500 + Less than 100 Less than 20	100.00% 77.2 13.9 5.9 2.8 0.2 0.0 99.8 97.0	100.00% 75.5 14.6 6.2 3.4 0.3 0.0 99.7 96.3

Births and Deaths of Retail Secondary Locations by Employment Size,** 2006–2007
(NAICS Definitions and Percent)

Employment Size of Firms	Births Share of Total	Deaths Share of Total
Total 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 19 20 - 99 100 - 499 500 + Less than 100 Less than 20	100.00% 0.7 2.9 7.9 20.1 12.8 55.7 31.5 11.5	100.00% 2.5 4.7 7.9 18.4 13.3 53.2 33.6 15.1

* "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. A "birth" is the creation of a new firm and a "death" is the closing of a firm.
** "Secondary locations" are additional establishments beyond the primary establishment within a firm. In other words, a retail firm with ten stores has nine secondary establishments. A "birth" is the opening of a new establishment within a firm and a "death" is the closing of an establishment within a firm.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy