Retail industry analysts Retail Sails have complied some data which reveals that Apple Stores generally do roughly 17 times better performance-wise than the average retailer in a mall environment in the U.S. Here is some information on the top 20 retail chains:

The data was taken from 160 store chains across the U.S. Sales per square foot is the typical standard by which store success is measured, with $300 per square foot considered to be satisfactory. The national average for mall retail space is $341, while the average for specialty clothing stores is $400. Jewelers do about $600 on average, and the median for the top 20 retails is $787. Apple stores do about twice as well as second place Tiffany and Company, and about 17 times better than the average mall retailer, coming in at $5,626 in sales per square foot, more than 10 times that of #20, Guess?

The only other store that seems to offer comparable services in the top 20 is Best Buy, which hasn’t been doing too well as of late, though it’s not clear whether or not the Apple kiosks that exist in some of their big box locations contributed to their performance as indicated in the chart.

Interestingly, it’s been recently reported that so far 22 completely fake Apple stores have been uncovered in China, featuring employees that actually believe their paychecks are coming from Cupertino, and there is no word on whether the fronts are selling real iOS products, Shanzhai knock-offs or straight counterfeits.