Naperville reigns as ‘retail mecca,’ producing $5.7B in sales last year

Naperville reigns supreme once again as an economic powerhouse among Chicago suburbs.

Illinois’ third-largest city has retained its spot as the top suburban retail sales generator in the Chicago metropolitan area for another year, according to a recently released report from Chicago-based consultant firm Melaniphy & Associates.

Naperville has held the title since 2017, thanks in part to its shopping centers, restaurant scene, automobile dealerships, gas purchases and grocery stores.

The annual report from the firm takes a comprehensive look at suburban retail numbers to document shifts in the marketplace based on various retail sales categories. In 2025, Naperville produced over $5.7 billion in retail sales, up 15.2% over 2024.

Schaumburg, which has also historically performed well, took the No. 2 spot in this year’s report, seeing $4.69 billion in cumulative retail sales for 2025, followed by Mount Prospect with $4.4 billion, Joliet with $3.8 billion and Aurora with $3.7 billion.

“Naperville is really the retail mecca in the Chicago metropolitan area,” said John C. Melaniphy III, who produces the annual report. “They are firing on all cylinders, and have far exceeded many of the other municipalities throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, and they continue to do so by adding a number of new grocery stores over the last several years.”

That includes upscale grocer Heinen’s opening a location in Naperville last year and a second Costco that opened on East Ogden Avenue in 2021.

Naperville saw more than $508 million in food store sales last year, a 2.3% increase over 2024 and the highest amount of sales among all Chicago suburbs.

Despite the loss of grocery stores like The Fresh Market and Amazon Fresh, Naperville is likely to continue to do well in this category with 99 Ranch Market and MOM’s Organic Market planning to open locations in the city.

Naperville also continues to be a leader in the restaurant and bar industry, producing $592 million in eating and drinking sales — the most of any suburb in the Chicago area and an 8.4% increase over 2024.

“I think the drinking and eating sales actually were stronger than I thought they might be, given all the uncertainty in the economy,” Melaniphy said. “It says a lot about Naperville’s dynamic downtown area and the restaurants at Freedom (Commons) and throughout the (Route) 59 corridor and other areas.”

He added that the city hasn’t even seen a full year of sales from the Block 59 development, which opened its first new restaurant in the dining and entertainment complex in March of last year.

Other categories where Naperville continues to dominate include automobile and gasoline sales as well as home improvement sales.

Naperville captured $1.3 billion in car and gas sales last year, although the amount was down 20.3% from 2024. Of all the top 20 suburbs with strong automobile and gas sales, only Mount Prospect and Mettawa saw their sales increase in this category.

“So (Naperville was) down harder than the metro area … but they have more auto dealers and they have more geographic area and a large number of fuel centers,” Melaniphy said, emphasizing the city’s two Costco fuel centers.

Home improvement sales were at $237 million for Naperville last year, a 17.6% increase over 2024.

“In 2025, there was a considerable amount of preemptive spending in anticipation of these tariffs that no one was really sure where they were going to end up,” Melaniphy said.

As a result, many suburbs saw their sales increase in this category. The threat and eventual approval of tariffs on lumber, tools and power equipment propelled sales to increase by more than $1.3 billion across the Chicago area in 2025. Total sales were $8.6 billion, an 18.3% jump over 2024.

Furniture and electronics sales also saw a strong performance across the Chicago area last year in anticipation of tariffs. There were $8 billion in sales, up by 33.9% over 2024.

Naperville had $257 million in furniture and electronic sales last year, an increase of about 30.3% over 2024, placing it behind Glenview at $695 million and Schaumburg with $286 million.

Apparel sales increased by 37.1% across the Chicago area last year, producing a total of $8.3 billion. The last time the Chicago area saw such a high increase in retail spending was in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a large amount of “revenge spending” triggered by people being able to go on vacation and see friends again, Melaniphy said.

When asked what was driving the growth for last year, Melaniphy said it was likely a mix of preemptive spending due to tariffs, ease of online shopping and a revitalized interest in brick-and-mortar stores.

“I think there’s a return to the malls and the shopping centers because you can see more merchandise more quickly, and generally when you shop in a brick-and-mortar store, you’ll spend more and there’s more spontaneous purchases,” he said.

That benefited Naperville, which saw $196 million in apparel sales last year, 40% more than in 2024. Though the city was bested by five other suburbs in this category — Oak Brook, Schaumburg, Aurora, Rosemont and Skokie — Naperville welcomed a number of major retailers last year, including Birkenstock, Gorjana and Abercrombie & Fitch. More major retailers are on the way, with L. L. Bean and Brandy Melville expected to open this year.

“Naperville is fortunate to have a higher average household income, strong demographics, many families, children,” Melaniphy said. “It’s just a terrific community that’s very well managed from a municipal standpoint, and they have done a terrific job of managing and attracting strong retail developments in their community.”