NEW YORK—Vision Monday's annual, signature report on the Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers is being released today, in VM's June issue and on VisionMonday.com. The 2023 report, which examines companies' sales and location counts for the country's leading retailers, including mass merchants and warehouse clubs, is based on calendar year 2022 information and VM estimates. The collective sales of VM’s Top 50 U.S. Retailers rose 4.0 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, to reach an estimated $18.7 billion from 16,209 locations, the report shows.

A link to the report, along with PDFs of this year's and the prior year's feature, are posted here.

Consolidation is still reshaping the Top 50 while investments in operations and technology are helping several new retail leaders emerge. The pace of PE-backed acquisitions continued but cooled during the year, due to higher borrowing costs and interest rates. Staffing challenges persisted for everyone including regional and national groups. 
 
Nevertheless, there was organic growth (new store and office openings) for many. This year, there are eight companies on the VM Top 50 for the first time. 

Several retailers told VM about their continued investment in internal operations, training for teams, executive and associate recruitment, and new digital technologies. Those included ways to improve efficiency, to create a better patient experience, showcase products and hone or start virtual try-on or online sales. Remote eyecare is gaining traction among national and regional groups.

The VM Report includes a separate look at optical departments within mass merchants and wholesale clubs. There are new charts added to the report that tracks the Top 10 and Top 50 VM lists' sales over 10 years. The signature report also features Snapshots of the 2023 VM Top 10 U.S. Optical Retailers.