• by Sarah Mahoney , August 2, 2016

The National Retail Federation just unveiled its annual ranking of the fastest-growing stores, with grocery chains, good deals and e-commerce making a strong showing. In fact, three e-tailers with no physical stores at all—Wayfair, the home goods powerhouse; Evine, the online and TV retailer, and Bluestem, which owns such e-brands as Appleseed’s and Fingerhut —all making it into the top 10.

The list is published in the Washington D.C.-based trade association’s Stores Magazine, which says that almost one-quarter of this year’s winners are in the food category, and that the average growth rate for the top 100 is a 14.7% increase in sales, compared with 13.2% in the prior year. (The ranking is compiled by Kantar Retail, which compares the 2015 sales growth of all retailers with annual sales greater than $300 million, whether they are publicly or privately owned.)

Haggen, a small food chain with 30 stores in the Northwest grabbed the No. 1 spot with a sales increase of 325%, followed by the Dollar Tree, which acquired Family Dollar, driving a 138% jump in sales. GPM Investments, which runs convenience stores, ranked third, and Minyard Food Stores landed in the No. 4 spot. Evine Line, the TV shopping channel, came in 5^th, with plus-size retailer Torrid, Wayfair, Bluestem Brands, Verizon Wireless and H&M filling out the top 10.

By category, it says e-commerce, food and grocery, which include sales in drug and mass chains, as well as hard goods, are the fastest growing.

“The supermarket segment is a model of the dynamic changes in retail,” says Stores Media Editor Susan Reda, in its announcement. “It represents a fast-changing marketplace where legacy banners are reinventing, smaller footprint operators are gaining share and online initiatives from Amazon Prime and subscription services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron are sneaking a few bites.”