“Apple’s retail stores increased sales by nearly 60% in Q4. This is a dramatic though not unprecedented change from Q3′s 1% growth rate,” Horace Dediu reports for Asymco.

“The growth rate faithfully tracks iPhone releases as demonstrated in a post last quarter,” Dediu reports. “When seen on a yearly basis some of the data begin to from a picture.”

“There were 332 million visitors in 2011, an increase of 29%. (This total is greater than the population of the United States),” Dediu reports. “The average revenue was nearly $50 million/store. Average revenue/employee was $473,622. Average profit/employee was $120,289. The revenue per square foot was about $6,500 across all stores.”

More info and the excellent-as-usual charts and graphs in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Dan K." and "Sarah" for the heads up.]