Retail categories
Cobroker tracks US store counts for thousands of chains, quarter by quarter. Pick a category for every brand in it, ranked by size, with how fast each one is opening.
Every category
The taxonomy is hand-ordered, not ranked: the first row is not the largest category.
| Category | Key | Chains | Pages | Retail-leasable | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee & Beverage | coffee | 377 | 4 | yes | Drive-thru coffee, tea and juice — the most land-hungry format in retail right now |
| Chicken & Wings | chicken | 82 | 1 | yes | The most contested format in QSR right now — Dave's, Cane's, Wingstop and the chasers |
| Burgers & Sandwiches | burgers | 271 | 3 | yes | Better-burger, subs and delis |
| Pizza | pizza | 324 | 4 | yes | Carryout, fast-casual and delivery-led pizza |
| Mexican & Tex-Mex | mexican | 322 | 4 | yes | Burrito, taco and Tex-Mex concepts |
| Asian | asian | 200 | 2 | yes | Sushi, ramen, Korean, Chinese and pan-Asian fast casual |
| Restaurants & Fast Casual | qsr | 1,308 | 14 | yes | Everything else on the menu — American, Italian, seafood, BBQ, bowls and breakfast |
| Bakery & Desserts | dessert | 387 | 4 | yes | Cookies, ice cream, bakeries — small-format, high-frequency inline users |
| Bars & Nightlife | bars | 231 | 3 | yes | Bars, breweries and taprooms |
| Fitness & Wellness | fitness | 368 | 4 | yes | Boutique studios, gyms and recovery concepts backfilling junior boxes |
| Entertainment & Attractions | entertainment | 292 | 3 | yes | Eatertainment, mini golf, arcades and family entertainment centers |
| Grocery & Convenience | grocery | 489 | 5 | yes | Grocers, c-stores and beverage retail — the anchors and the pads |
| Apparel & Accessories | apparel | 771 | 8 | yes | Clothing, footwear and jewelry |
| Beauty & Personal Care | beauty | 99 | 1 | yes | Cosmetics, salons and med-spa concepts |
| Home & Furnishings | home | 369 | 4 | yes | Furniture, housewares and garden |
| Home Improvement & Hardware | improvement | 147 | 2 | yes | Hardware, building supply and outdoor |
| Discount & Value | value | 90 | 1 | yes | Dollar, off-price, warehouse club and department store |
| Specialty Retail | specialty | 1,448 | 15 | yes | Pet, hobby, electronics, pharmacy, smoke and everything else on the shop line |
| Automotive | auto | 112 | 2 | yes | Parts, tires and service, from retail boxes to the shops behind them |
| Health & Medical | health | 1,478 | 15 | no | Clinics, dental, urgent care and veterinary |
| Services & Other | services | 618 | 7 | no | Professional services, civic and everything uncategorized |
- Counts exclude rows the index classifies as collision, embedded or virtual: a collision is a generic word the index aggregated as if it were a brand, embedded concepts sit inside another store, and virtual brands are delivery-only. A row the classifier has not reached yet is counted, because dropping unclassified rows would empty the tree during a load.
- The "Retail-leasable" column is what drives the default view in the interactive product; it is a property of the category, not a judgement about any chain in it.