This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
Did you know that the number of retail store closings in 2017 has already tripled the number from all of 2016? Last year, a total of 2,056 store locations were closed down, but this year more than 6,700 stores have been shut down so far. That absolutely shatters the all-time record for store closings in a single year, and yet nobody seems that concerned about it. In 2008, an all-time record 6,163 retail stores were shuttered, and we have already surpassed that mark by a very wide margin. We are facing an unprecedented retail apocalypse, and as you will see below, the number of retail store closings is actually supposed to be much higher next year.
Whenever the mainstream media reports on the retail apocalypse, they always try to put a positive spin on the story by blaming the growth of Amazon and other online retailers. And without a doubt that has had an impact, but at this point online shopping still accounts for less than 10 percent of total U.S. retail sales.
Look, Amazon didn’t just show up to the party. They have been around for many, many years and while it is true that they are growing, they still only account for a very small sliver of the overall retail pie.
So those that would like to explain away this retail apocalypse need to come up with a better explanation.
As I noted in the headline, there are 20 different major retail chains that have closed at least 50 stores so far this year. The following numbers originally come from Fox Business…
1. Abercrombie & Fitch: 60 stores
2. Aerosoles: 88 stores
3. American Apparel: 110 stores
4. BCBG: 118 stores
5. Bebe: 168 stores
6. The Children’s Place: hundreds of stores to be closed by 2020
7. CVS: 70 stores
8. Guess: 60 stores
9. Gymboree: 350 stores
10. HHgregg: 220 stores
11. J.Crew: 50 stores
12. JC Penney: 138 stores
13. The Limited: 250 stores
14. Macy’s: 68 stores
15. Michael Kors: 125 stores
16. Payless: 800 stores
17. RadioShack: more than 1,000 stores
18. Rue21: up to 400 stores
19. Sears/Kmart: more than 300 stores
20. Wet Seal: 171 stores
If the U.S. economy was really doing well, then why are all of these major retailers closing down locations?
Of course the truth is that the economy is not doing well. The U.S. economy has not grown by at least 3 percent in a single year since the middle of the Bush administration, and it isn’t going to happen this year either. Overall, the U.S. economy has grown by an average of just 1.33 percent over the last 10 years, and meanwhile U.S. stock prices are up about 250 percent since the end of the last recession. The stock market has become completely and utterly disconnected from economic reality, and yet many Americans still believe that it is an accurate barometer for the health of the economy.
I used to do a Black Friday article every year, but I have ended that tradition. Yes, there were still a few scuffles this year, but at this point the much bigger story is how poorly the retailers are doing.
So far this year, more than 300 retailers have filed for bankruptcy, and we are currently on pace to lose over 147 million square feet of retail space by the end of 2017.
Those are absolutely catastrophic numbers.
And some analysts are already predicting that as many as 9,000 stores could be shut down in the United States in 2018.
Are we just going to keep blaming Amazon every time another retail chain goes belly up?
What we should really be focusing on is the fact that the “retail bubble” is starting to burst. In the aftermath of the last financial crisis, retailers went on an unprecedented debt binge, and now a lot of that debt is starting to go bad.
In fact, in a previous article I discussed the fact that “the amount of high-yield retail debt that will mature next year is approximately 19 times larger than the amount that matured this year”. This is going to have very serious implications on Wall Street, but very few people are really talking about this.
Most stores try to stay open through Christmas, but once the holiday season is over we will see another huge wave of store closings.
And as individual stores close down, this will put a lot of financial pressure on malls and shopping centers. Not too long ago, one report projected that up to 25 percent of all shopping malls in the entire nation could close down by 2022, but I tend to think that number is too optimistic.
The retail industry in the United States is dying, and the biggest reason for that is not Amazon.
Rather, the real reason why the retail industry is in so much trouble is because of the steady decline of the middle class. The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us is greater than ever, and we can clearly see the impact of this in the retail world.
Retailers that serve the very wealthy are generally doing well, and those that serve the other end of the food chain (such as dollar stores and Wal-Mart) are also doing okay.
But virtually all of the retailers that depend on middle class shoppers are really struggling, and this is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
Most American families are either living paycheck to paycheck or are close to that level, and these days U.S. consumers simply do not have much discretionary income to play around with. More hard working Americans are going to fall out of the middle class with each passing month, and that is extremely bad news for a retail industry that is literally falling apart right in front of our eyes.
Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
I don’t even go to any of the stores listed in the article.
why would no jobs or no businesses matter? we have plenty of welfare, drugs, and liquor stores?
Gandhi, yeah right, like we really need any reminders of that shit.
I’m waiting for the disaster in gun stores. Tell me how they can justify these huge stores they are building?
“I don’t even go to any of the stores listed in the article.”
Simply because you’re a peanut worker…stick to buying crap from your local 5 and dime/charity shop!
Anonymous, about time you came back with one of your stupid comments. How the f#$% do you know what I buy? Once again you can go take a flying leap.
“How the f#$% do you know what I buy?”
Easy – you’re forever telling everyone on here that you buy junk! Junk cars, junk guns, anything 2nd hand and cheap and nasty, you buy. Figures that everything else you buy is cheap too.
You don’t go to any of those stores…really? Yet a few posts later you admit you did. You are so easy to trip up. When you lie you better have a memory longer than that of a goldfish☺!
Braveheart there are two posters here using Anonymous. One is a troll the other isn’t. The troll only comes around every so often but is mean. I come here to read but rarely ever post because the moderation process is to long and my posts were getting stuck in moderation sometimes for over a day. Just saying I noticed there are two Anonymous posters here. The troll one is nasty and had also attacked me a few times.
Anon1 – What gives you the right to call anyone a troll? Everyone has the right to call someone out who consistently BS everyone else – and the so called Braveheart is a consummate bullshitter and hence is the only one I consistently call out!
And please, tell me where I’ve criticized you? To me you’re a recent poster. There are lots of people who are given the title Anonymous. I prefer not to have a handle as most are extensions of a disordered personality.
Anyway, back to BH. For a reasonably recent example, he used to be “friendly” with a poster called HCKS while, at the same time, dissing this guy behind his back! HCKS honestly thought BH was a good guy until BH’s hypocritical posts were pointed out. In effect, the so called good guy BH drove HCKS from the site. That is not how a man behaves.
So if you want to point the finger of nastiness at anyone Braveturd should be your number one target.
I don’t shop in any of those either, haven’t even heard of many.
Oh, Radio Shack still exists? Wow, that was my favorite place as a kid, when I could buy small electronics components to build things with, unlike today selling overpriced crap.
And how a bankrupt Kmart could buy a failing Sears, and the dumbass investors actually allowed that, only to no surprise that Kmart’s acquisition dragged Sears down even more down, amazes me.
Hohumm don’t care.
BlackMoe, Radio Shack used to be one of my favorite also. We had 4 Radio Shacks in my area until this past April. I’m not sure if they still have their online store.
BlackMoe, update to my earlier comment. Radio Shack does still have their online store.
I know I, personally, boycott some of the stores on this list due their rabid left wing stances on various issues. I hope to see Starbucks on it in the future. And, I doubt I am the only person that is offended by their actions which could be contributing to the decline.
Hopefully, we’ll see Target and Starbucks on this list of defunct businesses soon….
And consumer confidence going into the 2017 Christmas season is at an all time high!!! sing it!!!: “Everything is Awesome” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StTqXEQ2l-Y
I call horse shit.
These stores fail because they failed to
perform. They over charge. Poor service.
Inferior products selected by Women
“buyers”.
Didn’t spend a penny on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Got a bottle of wine in and read a good book. Happy as bliss!
We didn’t spend a cent either. Christmas is a fraud, we don’t even aknowledge it. Imagine the freedom and peace of mind you will have when you throw the chains of xmas off not to mention the extra $$.
Last week we traveled from Kentucky to upstate New York to visit family for Thanksgiving. We traveled the same route as last year.
I was surprised at the number of stores that have been closed since last year.
Hmmmm, peoples credit cards must be maxed out. Oh well, after the next big wave of bankruptcies they will have a fresh start and consume as much as possible again….
A lot of it also has to do with saturation in many areas. I see it all the time where CVS builds a new store right across the street from a Walgreens. When I lived in a town with a population of 100,000 there were dozens and dozens of drug stores. Now I’m in a town of 15,000 and we have 6 drug stores not including Walmart and Kroger. Why?? How many drug stores does a place really need?
In my area there is empty retail space going back to 2012. I have to agree with Rellik’s reasons for the stores failing. Amazon online shopping doesn’t even account for 10% of all retail sales in this country every year.
Amazon needs to be boycotted BIGTIME! How can anyone in their right mind support that globalist, NWO, spying, piece of shit monopoly? Oh but I saved 2 bucks! YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW! Just remember that next time you buy their shit…..
Remember when catalogues were the best way to order
everything you wanted? Montgomery Wards was handy.
1906-1910 Sears & Roebuck catalogue offered blueprints
and materials needed to completely build a one or two story
Craftsman Home, delivered by catalogue order, to site.
People back then seldom stole…..knowing they would be shot.
We are going back in time. Computers have replaced the
expensive catalogue. Shipping was expensive and quality died
which was the death nell for catalogue industry.
It was cheaper to buy locally in brick & morter stores and you
could examine the quality of the product.
So … here we go again. Buy online, local stores disappear.
Can’t see what junk you are ordering……you want to shop
locally in store?
So solly. China thrives, Amerika dies.
Amazons portion of retail may only be 10 percent of market, but 10 percent of sales is 100 percent of profit for many stores.