A Foolish Take: How Productive Are U.S. Department Stores?

The past decade was brutal for American department stores, which were besieged by superstores, off-price retailers, fast-fashion retailers, and e-commerce giants.

Investors usually measure a retailer's growth through comparable-store sales growth, or the revenue growth at locations opened for at least a year. However, we can also measure a retailer's productivity with its average sales per square foot.

Data source: eMarketer. Chart by author.

Source: Fool.com