Retail
General Retail Sites
- Chain Store Age - online version of industry trade magazine. Includes industry research.
- Discount Store News
- National Association of Retail Merchandising
- National Retail Federation - primary trade association. Research, directories and educational programs available for independent retailers.
- Retail Trade Statistics - from the 1997 Economic Census.
- Retail Trade Associations - provides a listing of associations with contact info for each.
- Stores Magazine - retail technology news, market research, e-commerce and trends influencing the retail industry. Full report on global online retailing available in the archive section.
Articles about selecting a retail site:
Bookstore
- How to Make it Big With a Used Bookstore - short report on used bookstores.
- Independent Online Booksellers Association includes association newsletter.
- Ipsos Booktrends statistics on particular genres and book sales in general.
- Bookweb Statistics from the American Booksellers Association.
Convenience Stores
- Convenience Stores - industry-at-a-Glance Series from Missouri. Provides statistics and information about the convenience store industry.
- CSNews Online - this site has informative information on the trends in the convenience store and truck stop marketplace.
- CSPNet Magazine - online version of CSP Magazine.
- C-Store - convenience store news, trends, and supplier directory.
- National Association of Convenience Stores NACS) - major industry trade association
- Industry Report on Gas Stations prepared by SBDCNet (pdf format).
Drug Stores
- National Association of Chain Drug Stores - association for drug store industry.
Grocery
- Food Marketing Institute (FMI) - operating costs, average salaries, consumer expenditures and other useful statistics for the grocer (see Facts & Figures section).
- Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) - this site provides some facts and stats on the food industry.
- National Grocer's Association - provides training and certification materials and also industry news
Hardware/DIY Stores
- National Retail Hardware Association - research industry statistics on this association's site.
- Home Center News the web site for the trade journal.
Outdoor Products Stores
Tobacco Product Stores
- Cigar Nexus contains demographic, psychographics and lifestyle survey done by Cigar Nexus
- The Economic Research Service data on tobacco expenditures available on this USDA web site
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion reports on tobacco use for each state
- Smoke Magazine Popular magazine about cigar and pipe smoking
- The Tobacco Merchants Association (TMA) - This site has statistics on many subjects important to the tobacco industry
- Retail Tobacco Dealers of America - Provides industry news and legislation information
Vending
- National Automatic Merchandising Association includes articles about the vending machine industry
