Just two months into 2019, many more retail stores have announced their closures amid a slowing in consumer spending. The retail apocalypse is worsening and there are some major stores on “deathwatch;” which would mean going out of business forever.
According to Money.com, in a single 24-hour period last week, Gap, J.C. Penney, and Victoria’s Secret announced they would be closing more than 300 stores combined. These announced store closures come soon after retail companies made the difficult decisions to shut down all Payless ShoeSource and Gymboree stores throughout the U.S., and in the middle of Sears’ dramatic struggle to survive. (Sears closed out 2018 by filing for bankruptcy and closing roughly 140 Sears and Kmart stores. The company owns both retailers).
Some of these companies are restructuring debt and refiguring their business models in order to fight to stay alive in today’s fast-moving ultra-competitive retail world. They must be able to stay competitive and every store must offer a compelling alternative to Amazon in order to win over shoppers. Other retailers have already lost the battle, are hosting liquidation sales right now, and will soon disappear entirely, like Toys “R” Us and Bon-Ton before them.
Sears is still alive and kicking, but barely. There are only 425 Sears and Kmart stores remaining compared to 2000 just five years ago. Remaining employees are skeptical about their future with the company and rightfully so. Victoria’s Secret, JC Penny, and Payless are all closing several stores. Gymboree, GAP, and Ann Taylor are also on “deathwatch.”
Ascena, the company that owns retailer brands like Ann Taylor, Loft, and Lane Bryant, has been on death watch for at least a year, reported Money.com. It is in the middle of the process that began back in 2017 to close about 250 stores. Ascena said it operated about 5,000 stores as of 2016, and it was down to 4,600 stores at the end of 2018. Ascena’s stock price has also taken a beating. It plummeted over this time period when stores were closing, dropping from over $10 per share in 2016 to around $2.25 in early 2019.
The retail apocalypse is happening right before our eyes, as brick and mortar stores are going away quickly.
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and most of those stores where selling imported junk poor quality stuff made in some third world place by slave wage workers. Yes you are Ok to Blame Trumps Tariffs for their demise. And good riddance to them.
Tariffs are temporary. Someone’s got to get the jobs back. Amazon is killing the retail stores. They noticed that no one wanted to try shopping while being attacked by savages every time. The wogs ruined the malls. Not Trump.
You are so right. The flash and grab gangs can’t hurt Amazon.
sure they can…..they leave it all right there on the porches to grab…..
Amazon will start selling package lock boxes. Business opportunity for fab shops.
Box of asbestos explodes in the car all over the thieves.
Anon, those gangs are a certain color who are responsible for a lot of problems.
In Memphis Tenn they built a new mall. The mall of Memphis. It even had a big Sears store. and the gimmie dats mugged the shoppers .and shoplifters stole so much that the stores closed and the mall became empty. a not very old building was torn down. It was caused to close by shit skinned people.
Old Guy, I remember that mall very well. I used to go there myself on occasion back when things weren’t so bad. There was an ice skating rink there that always brought in crowds. The gimme dats are responsible for a lot of problems out here. The land where that mall used to sit only became partially rebuilt on a couple of years back. A new service center for big rigs, buses, etc. occupies part of that land now. The rest of it is still vacant.
Didn’t realize this was a racist site. If it wasn’t for the racist, animalistic, and subversive nature of the beast-man and his Beast system, then shit-skins would be enjoying a more equal social footing and would have no need to take baubles which represent what the beast man has stolen from them…and everyone else on the Earth. What a reprehensible, disgusting race….case in point 🙂
Kimara, shouldn’t you be on the New Black Panther site?
Bezos is doing well
Despite the carnificine in the streets…
Amazon this and Amazon that….well most times they have what you need so I don’t see the problem with them. And I have heard all the boo hooing of supposedly workers are being worked to exhaustion. My question to that would be, “Why did you hire on then? I buy a lot of items from eBay as well. Sometimes they have dropped the ball on a order now and then but I bust their asses and I end up getting what I’ve paid for. Things change… Monkey Wards has long been gone and Sears is heading that way. I here that a lot of retail stores are on the ropes.
“My question to that would be ‘why did you hire on then?’.”
So…they should have known before they even got hired that they’d be worked half to death, and then they should have gone somewhere else accordingly?
See, that’s called “precognition,” and when you have that, you don’t work. You go to the dog track and pick winners every time.
Or they lost their job in retail, that was all that was left, and they figured that at least was better than starving to death or dying of cold this winter. I have taken jobs that sucked and I hated, but it was better than a handout, or starving.
Jim, spot on. I don’t exactly love what I do but I stick with it because it pays decent money and has a few fringe benefits. Like you said, it beats a handout or starving. I’ve always done whatever I had to do in order to survive. Today’s young people just don’t give a shit about anything. As long as they can get on welfare, food stamps, etc. and sponge off our tax money they don’t care how they survive.
They are banning Tommy Robinson’s new book titled “Mohammed’s Koran” so screw amazon.
Joe Mamma, I will support Tommy by purchasing his book WHEREVER it’s sold. He has fought the good fight. God bless him and the “street fight’n man”.
It’s clear that our governments won’t protect us, so…
B&N doesn’t appear to have it either.
Get it here.
ht tp://www.mohammeds-koran.com
Thanks Yahooie!
Repr Sleepr, when you’re at work you’re supposed to be WORKING. WTF did those people expect when they started with Amazon? People today are the exact opposite of our generations, especially if they’re a “minority”. I still buy from local sources all I can so I only go online as a LAST resort. The only downside to online shopping is you have to wait on your merchandise to be shipped from somewhere, depending on what type of shipping you choose. Expedited shipping costs more. There’s one mall in my city that’s only 10% occupied for now. A lot strip malls only 50% or less occupied. And newer strip malls being built within the past year or two that are still sitting empty. WTF was someone thinking on THAT idea? Hell, wallyworld and other big box chains were putting mom-and-pops out of business before amazon got to where it’s at now. Now the big boxes are dying out. Poetic justice?
BTW, Amazon just opened 2 distribution centers in my city last year.
Hey…you are a real racist bag of shit, eh?
Try Walmart on line before buying form Amazon. Very often you get better deals and can pick up at the store. (Stops thieves from taking it form your porch).
Oh, and it keeps a lot of people working.
This is all natural and should be expected
It is the culling of the weak and stupid
It is what healthy economies do!
I own a small retail store and I have already noticed this year that sales are slower than last year. I am worried about the coming financial climate. I have new landlords that are from out of state and that worries me too. Retail is hard nowadays with the competition of 0n-line shopping and being a small family owned biz makes it even harder. I have had customers check my prices against amazon right in front of me on their cell…Although we are always competitive, we also have to pay for taxes, rent, lights, displays, utilities, insurance, etc. It’s sad to think about, but I think the future will be cities filled with distribution centers for the few remaining big-box stores and amazon. All the fun, small businesses will have long disappeared and shopping will no longer be an “experience”.
I feel your pain, sweetie.
Keep going and maybe put up a little sign that will encourage your customers to think and perhaps chuckle a little. Humor is always the other side of tragedy. Carry books banned by Amazon. And stay in business as much for principle as for profit. As the big boys fold you become the only game in town. Your old customers will return and you’ll have plenty of new ones.
I’ve considered opening a brick and mortar store. I will buy the lot and build the store myself. That way I don’t have to worry about landlords hiking the rent. And land is an investment not just an expense. I’ll build it so I can live on the property if I choose. I will put a shower in the employee restroom.
Good luck, Tex.
.
@Honeypot,
Thank you! I have also thought about buying my own little store so I don’t have the worries about the landlords in the future too:) My store has a vibe to it that can’t be matched by the big-box stores or on-line biz (even my own) so I just keep doing what I do:) It just seems harder every year. My customers are awesome though, and that keeps me going for now. They are #woke and prepared for what’s coming our way.
Face it. Sell it. Get out while you can. The “Little People” Leona Helmsley yapped about are the ones that are getting a proctological inspection while the biggest distributors grow fat on our backs. If I had a small business, I’d get into something it’ll take time for the machine world to adjust to and become competitive in. There are areas that machines just don’t do well in. Post and beam home construction is one–lot’s of handwork to make sure things fit right. Welding is another–some work is just too specialized for a robot to do it, yet anyway. Truck driving is a tough job, but the money is there-I know a driver in West by God Virginia who was making $125K OPERATING 220-240 FEET OF TRUCK WITH 300,000 TO 800,000 POUNDS AND 72 GEAR COMBINATIONS 20 years ago. The trucking industry is screaming for drivers. The Canadian Pacific RR just hired 600 new conductors with bonuses from $15,000 to $25,000. I know railroading is a tough job, but the money is there. So get the hell out before you go nuts and bankrupt- you cannot match the buying power of the Amazon’s and others. Walmart tells it’s suppliers what it will pay and if the supplier doesn’t like it, there’s another Chinaman who will. Trump is trying like Hell to put an end to this crap, but big business of all stripes stand in his way, regardless of political affiliation. Because they are interested in what’s good for them, and the Hell with everybody else. Good luck. Because if you stay where you are, locked in a steadily decreasing market share, you are really boing to need it.
Are you in San Antonio, by any chance?
@Carolyn Says. I am in central Texas, north of Austin. Thankfully in conservative hill country:)
Tears for Sears…but not the vulture Eddie Lampert.
Everybody wants to rule the world…
Only took Trump two years to completely destroy the American economy.
we been on this path to destruction for over 40 years now….it was inevitible…..at least with trump as prez-dent, we got the right guy to rebuild this heap…..maybe….
Have you lost your mind anonymous? President Trump is the reason our economy is booming like never before, the stock market is in record territory, over five million new jobs have been created, and our so called “allies” overseas are no longer ripping us off! You must be watching CNN and all of the other FAKE NEWS sources. If our great President had a little help & cooperation from the vindictive house & senate, he could do even better. You appear to be so ignorant that you would probably vote for obama again, give the chance!
Liberal Idiot.
And it only took you one sentence to prove that you know nothing about economics.
No, dummy. Obama did that in his 8 years.
Do you have an IV drip running wide-open that’s full of “STUPID”? What other part of the Universe have you been in for the last 10 years? Iowa has never before had a 2. 7% unemployment rate in it’s history since becoming a state in 1846. Our biggest problem is that since the left-liberal’s got control of the educational system in the middle 60’s, we have gone from literally having the best public school system in the world in 1950 to the mediocrity of being 25th in the USA, which is about 23rd in the world now. We had the 7th best Technical High School in 1965 to not even being a blip on the radar now. “College college, college” was the big deal. Except for one thing: only about 50% of any given population is ready for and has the brain power and drive to succeed in college. You have no idea of how many philosophy Master’s degrees I met driving cab in Chicago 45 years ago. It’s interesting, but it won’t put food on the table. Who gives up a tenured position until they’re ready to retire? Nobody. Lots oh highly educated cabbies all over the country. They’d have done better to be ironworkers, carpenters, concrete masons, brickies–anything but a philosopher. The last time I talked to a union laborer here in Des Moines, Iowa, 5 years ago, he was making $19.25 an hour. Yeah. $160 a day–nearly $42,000 a year. Add a wife in about that pay range and life is easier because now you can build a Roth IRA for each of you, have real vacations, and live a decent, normal life. You are definitely crani in ano. Pull it out and see the sunshine..
AMAZON is a cancer, a blight on society, an ultra vires monopolistic corporation, vulture that MUST be closed as it is NO LONGER supports a free & open marketplace, b/ce it is censoring We the People by NOT allowing authors, products, videos, books, et al. items illustrate the fraud perpetrated against humanity by BIG PHARMA, et al. corporations!
Close AMAZON, LOCK UP JEFF BEZOS, confiscate his ill begotten wealth as he is an enabler for the destruction of society.
Katman,
When Big Grocery takes over it will be too late. Amazon is only a part of the Big Grocery takeover scheme.
Somebody else will knock off Amazon. It will start in a garage.
All of these stores carried clothes that were of poor quality and ugly. Every shirt/blouse is see-through and falls apart in the first wash. This is why we aren’t shopping there any longer. How about manufacturing some higher quality clothing that lasts longer than a wash and fits the average person good, and then you will see actual sales!
Too true.
Noooo say it aint sooo not Walmart LMFAO. It all has to happen this way where as you have to buy everything on line Amazon is now even going to sell groceries. How else do you think the anti christ / beast will be able to have control over everything bought and sold. There will be a hand full of online choices to shop from but ultimately one entity controlled by the beast.
You will also be able to sell but only on line under the watchful eye of the beast. Then there wont be any selling of things the beast thinks you shouldn’t have. Your choice of items you need will be limited to what is allowed. But hey youll get free shipping. ..foook me….
The debt load was caused by Mitt Romney and his LBO. He took out a huge loan as his profit and that BKed Toy’s R Us.Threw thousands out of work. Same thing going on with Payless Shoe Stores. This is being done by Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Richard C. Blum and his Blum Capital Partners.Dave Ramsey is not telling you the whole story. He doesn’t tell you where the debt came from!!!
“Unpleasant shopping experience”. Bull. Poor internet site? Bull. It was the debt put on as profit by corporate raiders. These ELite like Romney and Pelosi don’t care about the common man.They take their wealth and thousands of employees are out of a job.Stuff it Ramsey. You are an apologist for the Raiders!
But she will give you “crumbs” when you go to the welfare office!
Two things I won’t buy online no matter what. They are shoes and clothing. Reasons are obvious. They might not fit. Then you have to go through the hassle of returning items. And if the seller isn’t in business anymore, your screwed. But you are right, Amazon is screwing brick and mortar stores right out of business.
Some of these closings were inevitable. What people fail to realize is that Baby Boomers were a gigantic block of big spenders but now they are all retiring. The spending is coming to an end. That’s one reason so many politicians want unrestricted immigration – they want new customers.
Bilge Pump: Yours is #One of the top five observations I have seen in ten years of schlepping around websites. I think this economy is going to tank hard in several years, and it won’t be a pretty sight. The generation we raised may not be inclined to meet SS and other obligations, with their “Me first, too, and always” attitudes, and to say nothing of the brats they have bred and fed on a diet of incivility.
When someone buys something on the Internet from another state and doesn’t get charged for it, they are supposed to pay consumer use tax. They report how much they bought and pay the sales tax of their home state. Compliance has been extremely low since the vendors don’t report the purchases to the states involved. There was a recent court case called the Wayfair Case where the courts ruled that the on-line vendors could be required to collect the sales taxes on behalf of the states. A lot of smaller vendors will probably go under since they can’t keep up with the reporting. More money taken from an American public living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Once the chains are gone and the mom and pop stores forgotten, all that will be left is Amazon. I enjoy Amazon. I use it. I still try to buy locally, but have been sorely disappointed. The work ethic is gone. They do not honor their contracts…..been burned by local yokels and chains more times than I can count, while Amazon has been reliable and ethical. But I know it won’t last. I just don’t know how to stop it.
Everyone trashes occasional Kotex about killing the Amazon deal. I think she did the right thing. Amazon is a blood sucking parasite. They need to be destroyed.
Dollar Store is on the block…..bye bye…
You know the cause of the retail apocalypse? Very simple. I went to 4 retail stores looking for an audio cable. Not one of them had it in stock. 2 of the workers told me to “order it from Amazon”…so I did.
This should not be a surprise to anyone. Some of you sound like “these damn automobiles are putting all the buggy drivers out of business”! Things change people. Adapt or die.
The Internet provides an opportunity to purchase a wider range of products that you can get locally. When it comes to prepper supplies, it is hard to find stores that supply the items.
The typical American household is in serious financial straits. It has no financial reserves and way too much debt. Even if both partners work, it is having trouble. Tighter enforcement of the use tax will put it under more pressure. The Grand Solar Minimum will drive food prices rapidly higher. If they ever put in carbon taxes, this will send a whole lot of people over the edge. If you think that the rioting in Paris over this issue was bad, just wait. You can only kick a mule so many times before it kicks back.
retailer brands like Ann Taylor, Loft, and Lane Bryant,
Yes it is hard to sell a $100 dollar blouse when Walmart is selling one like it for 10 bucks down the street.
I heard that Toys R Us was going to be bought by the NAACP and renamed We Be Toys And Shit.