Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Despite the recession’s toll in 2008, many major retailers ended the year with more revenue than in 2007, according to the latest Stores Magazine Top 100 list. The ten retailers whose revenue went up the most, by percentage, were convenience store owner Susser Holdings, up 56 percent to $4.2 billion; A&P supermarkets, up nearly 49 percent to $9.5 billion; Apple Store/iTunes, up 46 percent to $9.65 billion; O’Reilly Automotive car parts, up about 42 percent to about $3.6 billion; Pilot Travel Centers, up 32 percent to $16.5 billion; The Pantry convenience stores, up 30 percent to about $9 billion; Amazon.com, up 29 percent to $19 billion; RaceTrac Petroleum, up 27 percent to $8 billion; Travel Centers of America, up 24 percent to about $7.7 billion and AT&T Wireless, up 23 percent to $4.9 billion.

However, there was plenty of pain reflected in the Stores list, based on revenue. Ranked by percentage of revenue decline, here are the most unfortunate: Williams-Sonoma, down nearly 15 percent to $3.3 billion; Brinker International restaurants, down about 14 percent to $3.6 billion, Limited Brands stores, down about 11 percent to $9 billion; Albertson’s supermarkets, down nearly 9 percent to $5.3 billion; Belk department stores, down 8.5 percent to about $3.5 billion; Home Depot (with $71.2 billion), Sears Holdings (with $46.7 billion) and Gap stores ( with $14.5 billion) all down an identical 7.8 percent; Office Max, down about 7 percent to about $4 billion; Office Depot, down 6 percent to about $10 billion; Macy’s, down 5.4 percent to about $24.9 billion and Barnes & Noble, down about 5 percent to $5.1 billion.