Valley Foods, a grocery store in Downtown Fresno, opened four year ago. Photo by Edward Smith

The growth of Central Valley brick-and-mortar stores is evident in a new analysis of retail expansion in US cities since 2020, outpacing the national average.

Analyzing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data between 2020 and 2024, the report from Michigan-based online banner and sign printer Printastic ranks Visalia No. 27 for retail establishment growth in midsize US metros at 8.1%. Retail employment grew 9.5% in that period. There were 1,123 retail establishments in the Visalia metro area last year employing 16,668 people.

The national increase in retail stores was 3.7% in the last four years.

Fresno was No. 44 out 167 midsize metro areas for the most retail business growth. Retail establishments grew by 6% in Fresno in that period, with retail employment up 7.8%. There were 2,860 retail establishments in Fresno last year, and 43,137 employed in retail.

For this analysis, midsize metros had 10,000-49,999 employees in retail. Small metros had less than 10,000 employees.

For small metros, Hanford was No. 35 with 6.8% retail store growth and 7.2% employment growth. There were 298 retail establishments in the Hanford metro employing 4,277 people.

Boise City, Idaho, was ranked No. 1 for all metro areas with 19.3% retail growth and 8.7% employment growth.

For retail categories as of 2024 in the US, the “sports, hobbies, and books” sector had the most retail stores with 190,490 with 1.49 million workers. This includes bookstores, sporting goods shops, musical instrument retails and specialty hobby stores.

Other sectors with a high number of establishments include food and beverage stores (161,346 locations, 3.21 million employees), which consist of supermarkets, specialty grocery stores, and liquor stores.