diff --git a/scrapinghub/hubstorage/resourcetype.py b/scrapinghub/hubstorage/resourcetype.py
index 0fd029fd..53320f6d 100644
--- a/scrapinghub/hubstorage/resourcetype.py
+++ b/scrapinghub/hubstorage/resourcetype.py
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
+import time
+import json
+import socket
+import logging
+from collections import MutableMapping
+
 import six
 from six.moves import range
-import logging, time, json, socket
-from collections import MutableMapping
 import requests.exceptions as rexc
+
 from .utils import urlpathjoin, xauth
 from .serialization import jlencode, jldecode, mpdecode
 
@@ -78,6 +83,22 @@ def apiget(self, _path=None, **kwargs):
         kwargs.setdefault('is_idempotent', True)
         return self.apirequest(_path, method='GET', **kwargs)
 
+    def apiget_json(self, _path, **kwargs):
+        """Optimized GET logic for endpoints returning a single JSON line.
+
+        Some endpoints, like /items/stats, can return a large JSON line, and
+        due to chunking logic in _iter_lines() it can take double time to get
+        the chunks one by one, join and convert it to a single JSON line. This
+        method should be called for endpoints that always return a single JSON
+        line in the response.
+        """
+        kwargs.update(method='GET', url=urlpathjoin(self.url, _path))
+        kwargs.setdefault('auth', self.auth)
+        kwargs.setdefault('is_idempotent', True)
+        r = self.client.request(**kwargs)
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        return r.json()
+
     def apidelete(self, _path=None, **kwargs):
         kwargs.setdefault('is_idempotent', True)
         return self.apirequest(_path, method='DELETE', **kwargs)
@@ -217,7 +238,7 @@ def get(self, _key, **params):
             return o
 
     def stats(self):
-        return next(self.apiget('stats'))
+        return self.apiget_json('stats')
 
 
 class MappingResourceType(ResourceType, MutableMapping):