With all the headlines declaring that the "retail apocalypse" is upon us, it's easy to assume that every chain has started shrinking. In reality, while many well-known retailers are suffering, plenty of companies are actually growing their brick-and-mortar footprint.
Retail is changing, but those changes don't mean the end of stores. Instead, different types of stores are succeeding while others die out. Many of those successful business models are expanding, and if you don't already have these brands in your area, you may soon.
Dollar General has been adding about 1,000 stores a year. Image source: Dollar General.
Dollar General
One thing you'll notice on this list is that discount stores have generally done well recently. Dollar General (DG 0.43%) has done better than most, and it's adding stores at a furious pace.
Through six months of its fiscal 2017, the chain has opened 574 new stores and remodeled or relocated 555 more. For the full year, the company plans to open approximately 1,000 stores, convert another 285 that it purchased, and remodel or relocate 760 stores.
Ollie's Bargain Outlet
Another discounter, Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI 0.60%), markets itself as offering "good stuff cheap." That philosophy has worked for the chain, which opened 44 stores between Q2 2016 and the same quarter of 2017. It plans to keep up its slow, steady expansion, opening 33 to 35 new stores before its fiscal year ends in February 2018.
Costco
This warehouse club has expanded steadily, albeit slowly. Costco (COST +0.49%) opened 26 new stores globally in its fiscal 2017, bringing its total to 741 locations. In fiscal 2018, the chain plans to open 25 new warehouses, two-thirds of them in the U.S. It also plans to relocate six of its stores to larger, better-located facilities during the same year.
Target (small stores)
While Target (TGT +0.50%) has been very selective when it comes to opening full-size stores, it has ambitious plans for its smaller-store format. It has opened 32 new stores in 2017, nearly all of them the small-size variety. It has plans to open another 35 stores, primarily small-format ones, in 2018, and it expects to open even more in 2019.
The TJX Companies
TJX (TJX 1.36%), which owns Marshall's, T.J. Maxx, and HomeGoods, added locations for all three brands in the third quarter, which closed on Oct. 28. The 4,052-location company added 139 stores across the world in Q3 alone. The company has not been specific about how many more stores it plans to open from here, but it has been growing steadily, and it intends to expand its HomeSense brand in the U.S. as well.
Ulta Beauty
This beauty supply chain has plans to open 100 new stores throughout its fiscal 2017, and it reached its halfway point on July 29. Ulta Beauty (ULTA 0.92%) has been steadily growing, and it closed Q2 2017 with "1,010 stores and square footage of 10,631,474, representing an 11.3% increase in square footage compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2016," according to its Q2 earnings release.
Hobby Lobby
The arts and crafts chain, which sells products for picture framing, jewelry making, scrapbooking, and various other hobbies, has added about 50 stores per year for the past few years, bringing its current total to 791 stores in 47 states. The company plans more of the same in 2018, when it will open about 50 more stores.
