I was a bit surprised. But after reading the article, it all made sense. I would have thought WalMart, General Dollar.... http://money.msn.com/technology-investment/article.aspx?post=b0418b59-22c3-4fbc-baf7-348f9e0122cc The most profitable retail stores in America? It may surprise you, but they belong to Apple (AAPL -0.19%). According to RetailSails, a retail and consumer goods consulting firm, the tech giant’s 372 worldwide locations sold goods at a rate of more than $6,000 per square foot of floor space in the past 12 months. The average store of the next most successful company in the United States, Tiffany & Co. (TIFF), sold less than half that figure per square foot. The retailers with the most profitable stores all brought in more than $1,000 per square foot. They were mostly high-end brands, selling relatively expensive products. Among department stores and supermarkets, sales per square foot were in many cases less than $100. And the top 5 are: Below are America's 5 most profitable stores; for the full list, visit 24/7 Wall St. •1. Apple (AAPL -0.19%) Sales per sq. ft.: $6,050 Sales per store: $51.14 million No. of stores: 372 1-yr. sales growth: 28.9% Revenue: $156.5 billion Apple is a relative newcomer on the retail scene, with its first store opening in 2001. Yet, Apple’s $6,050 per square foot is more than double that of Tiffany’s, the next highest on the list. Apple also has the ninth highest sales per store among companies measured by RetailSails, at more than $51 million, and the 13th highest one-year sales growth, at 28.9%. Apple benefits from constant new product introductions and upgrades of existing ones, as well the fact that so much of its revenue comes from non-store sales. This business model has made Apple the world’s largest public company, with a market capitalization of more than $510 billion. In the first nine months of fiscal 2012, Apple opened 15 stores, including four in the United States, four in Spain and two in France. •2. Tiffany & Co. (TIFF) Sales per sq. ft.: $3,017 Sales per store: $13.02 million No. of stores: 260 1-yr. sales growth: 9.6% Revenue: $3.6 billion Diamonds are small and pricey, so it should come as no surprise that this luxury jeweler can be found near the top the list featuring sales per square feet. In fact, Tiffany’s sales per square foot is about 35% higher than that of Lululemon, the next highest on the list. Tiffany opened its first store in 1837. As of the end of July it had 260 stores. In the second half of the year, the company said it expects to open nine stores in North and South America, five stores in the Asia-Pacific region and one store in Europe. The share price is down about 7% year-to-date. •3. Lululemon Athletica (LULU -0.72%) Sales per sq. ft.: $1,936 Sales per store: $5.49 million No. of stores: 189 1-yr. sales growth: 38.6% Revenue: $1.0 billion Founded in 1998, Lululemon is a yoga and sporting apparel company headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. Not only are its sales per square foot higher than all other retailers on this list except for two, but its sales per store are higher than most apparel stores as well, even though it has substantially less store space than other companies. Still, Lululemon’s one-year sales growth was the eighth highest on the RetailSails list, and its share price is up nearly 50% year-to-date. The company said it expects to open 30 new stores in the United States by the end of the fiscal year. •4. Coach (COH +0.80%) Sales per sq. ft.: $1,871 Sales per store: $5.19 million No. of stores: 833 1-yr. sales growth: 15.9% Revenue: $4.8 billion Best known for its high-end leather handbags, Coach had 833 stores worldwide as of the end of July, more than any of the nine most successful retailers on this list. Its $4.76 billion revenue last year was higher than all the other retailers on the list except for Tiffany and Apple. Coach’s primary markets are the United States and Japan, which account for about 80% of all stores. It had a respectable 15.9% one-year sales growth last year, but so far in 2012, Coach’s share price has declined by more than 11%. •5. Michael Kors (KORS -0.43%) Sales per sq. ft.: $1,431 Sales per store: $3.24 million No. of stores: 253 1-yr. sales growth: 77.9% Revenue: n/a Luxury lifestyle products retailer Michael Kors Holdings saw the second largest revenue growth, at 77.9%, among the more than 200 companies reviewed by RetailSails. The company’s share price rose more than 110% since the initial public offering in mid-December of last year. The company believes there is long-term potential to grow its store base to 400 in North America and 100 each in Europe and Japan. The company said in its just-released second-quarter fiscal 2013 report that, including licensed locations, there were 349 Michael Kors stores worldwide at the end of September.
It all makes sense. Overhead is a killer. Large stores with a lot of employees and cheap items shrinks profit. Small stores with expensive items that require fewer employees maximize profits.
Interesting that my girlfriend's three favorite stores are the top 3 on the list. She obviously has incredibly good taste! BNM
I'd never heard of Lululemon until I started dating her. She taught yoga for over 10 years, still takes yoga classes regularly and is considering teaching again. We were in a Tiffany store a week and a half ago looking at engagement rings. Nothing definite, just to get an idea what she likes. BNM
Lululemon started the whole yoga pants thing. Shit is mad expensive though, like $100 for pants and $50 for t-shirts. girls look good in them.
And their whole strategy is to always be out of stock on certain items. This forces/encourages their shoppers to keep coming into the store and to buy items on the spot. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812904577295882632723066.html
If I was an eccentric millionaire, I'd work there just to have all the hot yoga chicks up in the spot.
My gf has found better deals on ebay for Coach purses. She's bought two so far plus a wallet. All three items came with excellent condition for what pictures were displayed on ebay.
these purse freak women are weird. but then again, I'm a luggage freak...so if I were a girl I'd probably be the same way.
Yep, even though my GF has expensive taste, she's not a big spender. She prefers quality over quantity. This makes it easy for me to spoil her. I can buy her the expensive stuff she hesitates to buy for herself. She's very happy and appreciative, and she looks GREAT in it. Win:win! BNM
