Chain store density in 1930

Interesting bit of quick research I put together about the number of chain stores per capita in some American cities in 1930. I was inspired to do this as I started working on the Detroit listings. It seemed to me that there was an inordinately high store count relative to the population, and when I compared Detroit with several other large cities, I realized I was right. Of my semi-random sample, only Atlanta and Washington had higher per capita numbers of chain stores (defined here as companies that had three or more locations) in 1930.

This is unscientific and a not very controlled “quickie” but I may do more detailed research on this over time, because I find it pretty fascinating. It wouldd be interesting to dive into the “why” at some point as well.

City

Chain Stores (1930)

Population (1930)

PerĀ 100000 People

Atlanta

276

270366

102.08

Washington

485

486869

99.62

Detroit

1499

1568662

95.56

Cleveland

706

900429

78.41

Pittsburgh

509

669817

75.99

Buffalo

427

573076

74.51

Baltimore

473

804874

58.77

Portland OR

167

301815

55.33

Newark

395

772337

51.14

San Francisco

318

634394

50.13

Kansas City

191

399746

47.78

Denver

132

287861

45.86

St Louis

373

821960

45.38

New Orleans

155

458762

33.79

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