General Retail Stores

The point of this listing is not to suggest that these stores carry predominately American-made merchandise, because there is no store that stocks only American-made goods. The point is that if you’re going to buy a product that you must have, like a part or accessory for your computer, and you know that part is going to be foreign made, it makes sense to buy it from an American-owned retail chain like Best Buy instead of a foreign-owned retail chain like CompUSA. In How Americans Can Buy American, I explain more about why buying American is much more than just about American-made.

For instance if you were going to buy a digital camera (which are all foreign made) does it really matter if you buy one from Kodak or Canon? Yes, it does.

Japanese-owned Canon has stated the company wants to "preserve its core competence" by keeping as much manufacturing in Japan as possible. Even though Canon gets 75% of its revenue from outside Japan, it has a target of retaining about 60% of its production capacity inside Japan. Kodak generates most of their cash from the United States, which is used to support 40,000 American retirees and their dependents. Canon, as with most Japanese companies, doesn’t support nearly as many American workers and retirees as their American-owned competition.

So if you’re going to buy a digital camera, you should buy a Kodak instead of a Canon and you should buy it from American-owned Best Buy instead of Mexican-owned CompUSA.

Best Buy’s Chief Executive, Bradbury H. Anderson, is a great example of an American boss who cares about his American employees. Anderson rose through the company ranks after starting as a stereo salesman. He declined 934,000 stock options for himself between 2002 and 2004, and instead he distributed them to lower-level employees.

Brand Name	Nationality
August Max	American
Best Buy	American
Claire's Boutiques	American
Clothestime	American
Dress Barn	American
Foot Locker	American
Hallmark	American
Officemax	American
Pic 'N' Save	American
Sound Advice	American
Strouds Linen Outlet	American
T.J. Maxx	American
The Gap	American
The Limited	American
Vitamin World	American
Wet Seal	American
Wicks 'N' Sticks	American
Spencer Gifts	France
Talbots	Japan
CompUSA	Mexico