Buying discipline at trade shows starts with clarity about your inventory levels, Smith writes.
According to Stores, the Largest Retailers in the US Are …
The National Retail Federation’s magazine just released its annual “Top 100 Retailers” list, which includes one specialty jeweler.

Washington—Brick-and-mortar stores are holding their ground in the digital age by adapting new technologies and expanding to do more than just sell products, Stores magazine said in its annual “Top 100” issue, out now.
A publication of the National Retail Federation, Stores compiles the “Top 100 Retailers” list every year, ranking the largest U.S. retailers by sales. It’s like the “The State of the Majors” but for all retail, not just fine jewelry.
According to the Stores list, Walmart remains the largest retailer in the United States, with sales totaling $387.66 billion in 2018.
The retail giant’s revenues were more than three times those of the No. 2 company on the list, Amazon.com, which racked up $120.93 billion in retail sales last year (and also now has nearly 500 physical stores).
At No. 3 was The Kroger Co. ($119.7 billion), followed by Costco ($101.43 billion) and Walgreens Boots Alliance at No. 5 ($98.39 billion).
Four of the top five on list are, in addition to everything else they sell, sizable players in the jewelry industry.
Walmart ranks as the second-largest seller of fine jewelry in North America, according to National Jeweler’s 2018 “$100 Million Supersellers” list, while Costco, Amazon and The Kroger Co., which owns Fred Meyers and Littman Jewelers, are all on the list too.
Signet Jewelers ranked No. 85, sandwiched between Speedway and the Defense Commissary Agency, which operates commissaries that sells groceries and household goods to active-duty and retired members of the U.S. military.
In addition to ranking the Top 100 Retailers, Stores broke out lists of “Power Players” by category. It has five companies under “Jewelry/Accessories.”
The largest was, of course, Signet, followed by Tapestry (owner of Kate Spade, Coach and Stuart Weitzman), Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamond Shops, and Claire’s Stores.
The full “Top 100 Retailers” list can be viewed on Stores.org, as can the magazine’s complete analysis.
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