VM REPORTS: Top 50 Retailers Mass Merchants and Warehouse Clubs Reflect a Collective 6.6 Percent Sales Gain in 2022 By Staff Sunday, June 18, 2023 12:57 AM RELATED CONTENT VM’s 2023 Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Key Optical Players Ranked by U.S. Sales in 2022 Taking a 10-Year Perspective on the VM Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Snapshots of Optical’s 10 Largest U.S. Retail Players NEW YORK—Whether it was the impact of some of their company expansions or the increasingly inflationary economy that took hold in the latter part of 2022 potentially causing increased sales for price-sensitive shoppers, the leading mass merchants and warehouse clubs with optical departments showed a rise in dollar sales for the year based on their reports and VM’s estimates, which reflected a collective 6.6 percent increase for the year compared to a strong 2021. Sales of these businesses reaching $4,115.3 million for the year against $3,862.1 million in the prior year period. Some of the gains came through strong comps and others through additional store openings. The collective store count among these retailers rose from 4,991 in 2021 calendar year to 5,025 in 2022. Walmart’s Vision Centers, those operated by the retailer as well as those operated by an agreement with National Vision, remained stable in units. Sam’s Club locations also remained the same in number. So did Fred Meyer’s optical departments. Costco Optical, though, opened 12 new locations last year and Target Optical opened 14 more departments than in the prior year. And BJ’s Optical opened 8 additional locations.