Not surprisingly, Apple is leading the pack. There have been many similar articles (Apple May Be Highest Grossing Fifth Avenue Retailer - August 24, 2009), but it is still shocking how far ahead it is of its competitors, in light of the fact the company has only 10 years of retail experience.

In terms of sales per square foot, at least, Apple is the top US retailer, according to a RetailSails analysis. After their recent survey of the last four quarters of over 160 retailers, they said Apple’s sales were about $5,626 per square foot, up 49.1 percent year-over-year. The figures are not only based on US stores, RetailSails pointed out, but on global results.

The data shows Apple well ahead of its closest competitor, Tiffany & Co., which showed $2,974 per square foot. It beat out a number of other businesses which cater to middle or upper-class shoppers, in fact, including Coach, Signet Jewelers, Ralph Lauren, and Whole Foods. Other top 10 companies were luluemon, GameStop, Costco, and Best Buy.

Since June, Apple has made an intense retail push, expanding and renovating many current stores when not building new ones. Three new stores will be opening this weekend alone. In order to meet achieve stated goals, Apple will have to open another 14 stores by the end of September.

A recent industry report (client login only) stressed the Apple iPhone‘s dominance in the smartphone sector, showing the device as the top selling smartphone in the world, and Apple as the world’s biggest smartphone seller. The report by research firm Strategy Analytics highlighted Nokia’s nosedive from the peak of the smartphone world. According to the report Nokia’s second quarter smartphone sales dropped from the previous year’s 23.8 million units sold to 16.7 units, while Apple’s sales skyrocketed from 8.4 million units to 20.3 million, more proof of the company’s increasing market dominance.

With Apple’s 76-billion-dollar cash stockpile reportedly now larger than the cash held by the US government (the US Treasury estimates its operating balance to be 73.768 billion dollars), they are at least currently the biggest kid on the block financially.

(Via: Electronista, macnn, RetailSails, The Nation, Strategy Analytics)