Trends · data through August 2026

Bookstores in the United States

Iceflower tracks 3,317 stores from 1,676 bookstores chains in the United States. The Emporium grew fastest over the last year, ahead of Joseph-Beth Booksellers and McKay Used Books.

Rankings come from real card and bank transactions across a panel of 130M+ US and EU consumers. We publish relative growth and rankings, never revenue figures. About the data

Tracked chains
1,676
Tracked stores
3,317
Consumer panel
130M+

Growth ranking

Fastest-growing tracked bookstores chains

Ranked by year-over-year growth of share of tracked local spend. Arrows show movement in the rankings since last year. Each dot in the chart is one tracked chain: bigger market position to the right, faster growth higher up, more tracked stores in a bigger dot. Colors match the store map below. The Emporium and Joseph-Beth Booksellers sit in the high-growth half.

# Chain YoY growth
RankChainRank movementYoY growth
1 T The Emporium ▲4 +19.5%
2 J Joseph-Beth Booksellers logo Joseph-Beth Booksellers ▲1 +18.5%
3 M McKay Used Books logo McKay Used Books - +10.8%
4 M Mardel logo Mardel ▲2 +9.3%
5 T The Book Rack ▲1 +9.3%
6 N Newbury Comics logo Newbury Comics - +7.3%
7 S Schuler Books - +6.9%
8 C CNN Newsstand - +5.4%
9 M McNally Jackson Books ▲2 +4.9%
10 D Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy logo Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy ▲1 +4.3%
11 C CNBC News logo CNBC News - +3.2%
12 B Bookmans ▲1 +2.5%
13 B Barnes & Noble logo Barnes & Noble - +2.5%
14 K Kinokuniya logo Kinokuniya - +2.2%
15 V Vault of Midnight logo Vault of Midnight ▲2 +1.4%
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Exchange
  • Books-A-Million
  • Hudson News
  • Half Price Books
  • Deseret Book
  • 2nd & Charles
  • Other tracked chains

Store footprint

Store map

3,317 tracked store locations in the United States. The 7 largest tracked chains are highlighted.

  • Barnes & Noble (878)
  • Exchange (16)
  • Books-A-Million (211)
  • Hudson News (41)
  • Half Price Books (118)
  • Deseret Book (30)
  • 2nd & Charles (50)
  • Other tracked chains

Top tracked chains by store count

  • 1 B Barnes & Noble logo Barnes & Noble 878
  • 2 B Books-A-Million logo Books-A-Million 211
  • 3 H Half Price Books logo Half Price Books 118
  • 4 2 2nd & Charles logo 2nd & Charles 50
  • 5 H Hudson News logo Hudson News 41
  • 6 M Mardel Christian & Education logo Mardel Christian & Education 31
  • 7 D Deseret Book logo Deseret Book 30
  • 8 N Newbury Comics logo Newbury Comics 22
  • 9 E Exchange logo Exchange 16
  • 10 K Kinokuniya logo Kinokuniya 14
  • 11 S Seagull Book logo Seagull Book 13
  • 12 G Graham Crackers Comics logo Graham Crackers Comics 9
  • 13 B Book Off logo Book Off 8
  • 14 C Coliseum of Comics 8
  • 15 C CNN Newsstand 7
  • 16 T The Emporium 7
  • 17 M Main Street Books 6
  • 18 C Comics-N-Stuff 6
  • 19 T The Book House 5
  • 20 N New Dimension Comics 5
  • 21 P Posman Books 5
  • 22 M McKay Used Books logo McKay Used Books 5
  • 23 C CNBC News logo CNBC News 5
  • 24 E Eborn Books logo Eborn Books 5
  • 25 T TripAdvisor logo TripAdvisor 4
  • 26 D Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy logo Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy 4
  • 27 C Campus Bookstore 4
  • 28 W Wonder Book 4
  • 29 J Joseph-Beth Booksellers logo Joseph-Beth Booksellers 4
  • 30 P Powell's Books logo Powell's Books 4
  • 31 U Ultimate Comics 4
  • 32 M McNally Jackson Books 4
  • 33 S Schuler Books 4
  • 34 I Island Bookstore 4
  • 35 U University Book Store logo University Book Store 4
  • 36 T The Book Exchange 3
  • 37 C Collectors Corner 3
  • 38 B Bookmans 3
  • 39 M Mardel logo Mardel 3
  • 40 V Vault of Midnight logo Vault of Midnight 3
  • 41 T The Book Rack 3
  • 42 B Bookstore 3
  • 43 B Bedrock City Comic Company 3
  • 44 T The Nerd Store 3
  • 45 D Dragons Keep 2
  • 46 T Third Place Books 2
  • 47 C Changing Hands Bookstore 2
  • 48 T The Core 2
  • 49 C Campus Store 2
  • 50 N Northshire Bookstore 2

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