Five Below, Inc. (FIVE)

Discount stores, 24,600 crew, 68% part-time. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending January 31, 2026, filed March 19, 2026. Ranked 66 of the 184 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

A discount retailer whose filing counts 7,800 full-time and 16,800 part-time crew by store, shipcenter and corporate, so the stores lead and the counted shipcenter and corporate crew keep their own patterns.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 22% now, 26% at the end of 2027, 26% at the end of 2028, 27% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 27% desk work, 20% people work and 54% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 73% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 14% becomes checking a model's work and 12% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

24,600 employees as of January 31, 2026 (sum of stated parts). Stated: the store crew are in 46 states throughout the United States and the shipcenters are in New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Indiana.

The filing: “As of January 31, 2026, we employed approximately 7,800 full-time and 16,800 part-time crew.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 7,800 full-time and 16,800 part-time crew as of January 31, 2026 (24,600): about 600 corporate, 1,000 at five shipcenters, 23,000 store crew in 46 states; the part-time count fluctuates with the season; no union or collective bargaining.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also General Merchandise Retailers, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Walmart (WMT, 2,100,000 employees)21% now, 25% by 2028
• Target (TGT, 415,000 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• Costco (COST, 341,000 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• Dollar General (DG, 194,000 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• Dollar Tree (DLTR, 153,032 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• Macy's, Inc. (M, 90,134 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• Kohl's Corporation (KSS, 84,000 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
• BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (BJ, 35,000 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

7 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says it uses, and may increase its use of, machine learning and other AI in its business, that managing that use is a challenge, and that generative AI could leak sensitive information.

• “A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those factors described below, in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors," and in Part II, Item 7 "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." These factors include without limitation: the impacts...”
• “Moreover, our proprietary, confidential, and/or sensitive information could be leaked, disclosed, or revealed as a result of or in connection with the use of generative artificial intelligence technologies.”
• “We use, and may over time increase the usage of, machine learning and other types of artificial intelligence in our business, and challenges with properly managing its use could adversely affect our business.”
• “Like many businesses, we utilize machine learning and other types of artificial intelligence (collectively, "AI") and advancements in technology may allow us to expand the use of AI, including generative AI, into key operational and/or administrative aspects of our business with the result that applications of AI may become important in our operations over time.”
• “Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their businesses more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20235median 1
• Fiscal 20247median 4
• Fiscal 20257median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The Index's 7,800 is the full-time count alone; the filing states 16,800 part-time crew too, summed (rule 2).

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001177609-26-000010, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.