Apple thinks its stores can thrive while other retailers are dying

So far, the US retail industry has shed 53,000 jobs—as many as there are in the entire coal industry.

But amidst the carnage, the biggest company in the world is doing just fine.

Apple said its retail stores “experienced strong double-digit growth in visitors and revenue” in the three months to December and is continuing to open new stores. Research firm Consumer Intelligence estimated that two-thirds of Apple’s US retail sales come from its physical locations and a third comes from its online store (paywall). Its minimum lease payments alone are currently at $8.2 billion (pdf, p.20). As of last year, they had greater sales per square foot than any other retailer in the US, including jewelers like Tiffany.