Title:  Number of commercial establishments - wholesale and retail trade establishments
Column Name:  comest
Span:  1930-1997
Units:  Number of Establishments
Format:  Integer

Commercial Establishments - 1930
The count of establishments represents those places where business is conducted; each separate place of business is counted as a separate establishment (also known as a store). Figures represent all wholesale and retail establishments, canvassed by the enumerators in 1930, that were in existence during the year 1929. It may not include some stores that were discontinued during 1929 or shortly thereafter. For establishments engaged in both wholesale and retail, those doing over fifty percent of their business at wholesale have been counted as wholesalers, and those which derive half their sales from retail are classified as retailers. Wholesale trade embraces all establishments which were engaged in the purchase, sale, or distribution of goods on a wholesale basis, and covers virtually all merchandising concerns except retail establishments. Retail is the process of purveying goods to ultimate consumers for consumption or utilization, together with services incidental to the sale of goods. Retailers operate in places of business open to the general public, and they include restaurants, garages, filling stations, lumber yards, cigar stands, and market stands.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Decennial Census of the United States: 1930. Distribution, Volume I: Retail Distribution, Part I and Volume II: Wholesale Distribution. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933.


Commercial Establishments - 1940
The count of establishments represents those places where business is conducted; each separate place of business is counted as a separate establishment. Generally, establishments engaged primarily in selling to dealers and distributors for resale, or to purchasers who buy for business use, are classified as wholesale, while those that purvey goods to the ultimate consumer for consumption or utilization are classified as retail. For establishments that engage in both wholesale and retail, those doing over fifty percent of their business at wholesale have been counted as wholesalers, and those which derive half their sales from retail are classified as retailers. Wholesale trade embraces all establishments in operation during the census year, and includes manufacturer-owned sales outlets, petroleum bulk stations, agents, brokers, and assemblers of farm products. A retail establishment must operate as an established place of business open to the general public; thus peddlers or itinerant vendors are excluded. Retailers include eating and drinking places, filling stations, lumber and building-materials dealers, and motor-vehicle dealers.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Decennial Census of the United States, 1940. Census of Business, Volume I, Retail Trade: 1939, Part 3. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1941. ---Census of Business: 1939, Volume II, Wholesale Trade. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1942.


Commercial Establishments - 1948
Wholesale establishments are separate places of business primarily engaged in selling or acting as an agent in selling merchandise to (or buying it for) business concerns regardless of whether the latter purchased for resale or business use. Tabulations exclude data for establishments that operated during the entire year of 1948 but had sales of less than $5,000. Wholesale trade includes manufacturer owned sales outlets, petroleum bulk stations, agents, merchandise brokers, assemblers of farm products, and distributors of industrial goods. Retail stores are separate places of business primarily engaged in selling merchandise for personal, household, or farm consumption, and rendering; peddlers and itinerant vendors are excluded.

Commercial Establishments - 1972, 1982, 1987
The count of establishments (single physical locations at which business is conducted) represents the number in business at the end of the year. Wholesale trade includes all establishments with one or more paid employees primarily engaged in selling merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional, farm, or professional users; or to other wholesalers. Companies selling products to which they have title, as well as to those acting as agents or brokers in buying merchandise for or selling merchandise to others, are included. Retail trade includes all establishments primarily engaged in selling merchandise for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of the goods.

Source (where directly obtained):
County and City Data Books from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, 2003.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/

Original Source:
-U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1977. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1978.
-U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book [CD-ROM], 1988 Technical Documentation. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989.


Commercial Establishments - 1997
The count of establishments (single physical locations at which business is conducted) with payroll represents those in business at any time during the year. The wholesale trade sector includes wholesale merchants or jobbers, industrial distributors, voluntary group wholesalers, importers, exporters, cash-and-carry wholesalers, retailer cooperative warehouses, terminal and country grain elevators, farm products assemblers, wholesale cooperative associations, and petroleum bulk plants and terminals operated by non-refining companies. The retail trade sector comprises two main types of retailers: store retailers operate fixed point-of-sale locations, located and designed to attract a high volume of walk-in customers; non-store retailers reach customers and market merchandise with methods such as the broadcasting of infomercials, the broadcasting and publishing of direct-response advertising, the publishing of paper and electronic catalogs, door-to-door solicitation, in-home demonstration, selling from portable stalls (street vendors, except food), and distribution through vending machines.

Source (where directly obtained):
County and City Data Books from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, 2003.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1988-2000 [CDROM]. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989-2001.