While working on an analysis of the retail and wholesale sectors of the U.S. economy, a somewhat surprising thing emerged. The four fastest growing categories of brick-and-mortar stores, based on annual growth rates from 1992–2010 were: (1) Used Car Dealerships, (2) Health and Personal Care Stores, (3) Pharmacies and, (4) Radio, TV, and Other Electronics Stores. The last of these surprised us a bit, given the fact that such a large portion of the sale of electronics has moved online and the fact that the demise of a prominent player in the sector, Circuit City, seems pretty fresh in the mind.

As it turns out, the important trend behind the strength of this retail sector is the rise of cell phones and all the new cell phone stores that one sees in shopping centers and strip malls across the United States. Cell phone stores are part of the category “Radio, Television and Other Electronics Stores” (NAICS 443112), the fastest growing sector in the overall Electronics and Appliance Retail industry (NAICS 443).

The graph shows annual sales from Radio, TV, and Cell Phone Stores in the United States from 1992–2011 and cell phone subscription figures for the period 1992–2010.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1992 and 2011
Market size: $20.5 billion and $58.3 billion respectively
Source: Annual Retail Trade Survey 2010, with updates from the Monthly Retail Trade Report series, available online here. The cell phone subscriber data are from the Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, Table 1149, available from here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on August 21, 2012