Go Back to www.IndependentRetailer.com MANAGEMENT Census Data For Indys


ACCORDING TO data released from the U.S. Economic Census, overall sales at independent retail- ers grew by about four percent, after adjusting for infl ation, be- tween 2002 and 2007. The bad news: chains grew faster and in- dependents still lost market share, falling from 31 to 28 percent of consumer retail spending. This decline in market share, how- ever, was considerably slower in this fi ve year period, compared with the preceding 20 years, in which independents lost ground at a faster rate. In 1982, indepen- dent retailers captured nearly half of all retail spending. The report comes by way of the, “New Rules


Project,” a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The U.S. Economic Census is


conducted every fi ve years. The resulting data are released in batches two to four years later. For this analysis, the New Rules Project defi nes independent retail- ers as those with fewer than 10 outlets. Because the 2007 Census preceded the current recession, the downturn’s impact on both in- dependents and chains will not be evident until the 2012 Census. Here are a few other highlights


from the new data: • Most remarkable has been


the growth of specialty food stores, such as bakeries and greengro-


cers. The Census showed a net gain of over 1,400 small specialty food retailers (those with fewer than 20 employees). Sales at these stores shot up 23 percent even as grocery sales overall grew just three percent. This trend likely refl ects increased public inter- est in locally produced foods, as well as a growing desire to shop at neighborhood stores. • Employees of independent re-


tailers earned more per year than employees of national chains (an average of $27,451 vs. $20,313). Whether this refl ects a higher hourly rate or more hours worked is not discernable from the data.


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INDEPENDENTRETAILER


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