Date | 2010 | – present
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Venue | Malls, Physical retail |
Location | Worldwide; initially began in the English-speaking world, Western Europe and Japan |
Cause |
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Outcome |
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Retail apocalypse refers to the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains, beginning around 2010 [2] [3] and accelerating due to the mandatory closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2017 alone, more than 12,000 physical stores closed. The reasons included debt and bankruptcy in the face of rising costs, leveraged buyouts, low quarterly profits outside holiday binge spending, delayed effects of the Great Recession, [3] and changes in spending habits. American consumers have shifted their purchasing habits due to various factors, including experience spending versus material goods and homes, casual fashion in relaxed dress codes, as well as the rise of e-commerce [4] and particularly juggernaut companies such as Amazon.com and Walmart. A 2017 Business Insider report dubbed this phenomenon the "Amazon effect" and calculated that Amazon.com was generating more than half of retail-sales growth. [5]
Not everyone agrees that a "retail apocalypse" exists. Dissenting economists and experts asserted that recent retail closures are a market correction, suggesting that the phrase is misleading and instills insecurity in the 16 million U.S. retail workers. [6] Research published by global retail analyst IHL Group in 2019 suggests that the so-called retail apocalypse narrative was an exaggeration, with "more chains that are expanding their number of stores than closing stores.” [7] That year, retailers in the United States announced 9,302 store closings, a 59% jump from 2018, and the highest number since tracking the data began in 2012. [8]
Corporate bankruptcies and store closings increased in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most retail stores, especially struggling mall-based retailers, closed for extended periods of time. [9] Several large retail companies filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, including J. Crew, Century 21, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Stage Stores, Stein Mart, JCPenney, Tuesday Morning, and Pier 1 Imports. [10]
The most productive retailers in North America during the retail apocalypse are discount superstores [11] Walmart and Target, low-cost "fast-fashion" brands (Zara, H&M), dollar stores (Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar), [12] and warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's Wholesale Club). [13]
The phrase "retail apocalypse" first appeared in print in an early 1990s essay by Peter Glen, author of It's Not My Department!. [14] Media appropriated the term to refer to multiple brick-and-mortar store closures resulting from shifts in consumer spending. [6]
Since at least 2008 (Global Financial Crisis), various economic factors have resulted in the closing of many stores in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia, particularly in the department store industry. For example, Sears Holdings had more than 3,500 stores and 355,000 employees in 2006. [15] By the end of 2016, Sears operated 1,430 stores. [16] In October 2018, Sears filed for bankruptcy and announced it would close an additional 142 of its 687 stores. [17] At the time of filing, Sears had 68,000 employees. [17]
The phrase "retail apocalypse" began gaining widespread usage in 2017 following multiple announcements from many major retailers of plans to either discontinue or greatly scale back a retail presence, including companies such as H.H. Gregg, Family Christian Stores and The Limited all going out of business entirely. [18] The Atlantic described the phenomenon as "The Great Retail Apocalypse of 2017", reporting nine retail bankruptcies and several apparel companies having their stock hit new lows, including that of Lululemon, Urban Outfitters, and American Eagle. [3] Credit Suisse, a major global financial services company, predicted that 25% of U.S. malls remaining in 2017 could close by 2022. [19]
Since 2017, the phrase is frequently applied to brick-and-mortar closures in retail, with the retail apocalypse creating a domino effect on manufacturers and suppliers; Hasbro, for example, cited the loss of the Toys "R" Us chain as a major cause for lost revenue and layoffs the company imposed in October 2018. [20]
A 2019 analysis conducted by IHL Group international research and advisory firm found that when a retailer closes many stores, it indicates more about the individual retailer rather than the retail industry overall. In 2019, the 20 stores announcing the most closures represent 75% of all closures. IHL found that for each retailer closing stores in 2019, more than five retail chains are opening stores, an increase from the 3.7 ratio of 2018. IHL also reported that the number of chains adding stores in 2019 had increased 56%, while the number of closing stores decreased by 66% in the last year. [7] [21]
As of May 2020, bankruptcies and store closings were expected to intensify due to widespread business closures and the resulting financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Crew, Century 21, Neiman Marcus, Stage Stores, Stein Mart, Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, Tuesday Morning, and Pier 1 Imports were among the first major retailers to file for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic. [10]
Such retail downturns has also affected restaurants. [22]
The main factor cited in the closing of retail stores in the retail apocalypse is the shift in consumer habits towards online shopping. [23] Holiday sales for e-commerce increased by an estimated 11% to 20% from 2015 to 2016. The same year, brick-and-mortar stores saw an overall increase of only 1.6%, with physical department stores experiencing a 4.8% decline. [24]
Another factor is an over-supply of malls [25] as the growth rate of malls in North America between 1970 and 2015 was over twice the growth rate of the population. In 2004, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that investment in malls was artificially accelerated when the United States Congress introduced accelerated depreciation into the tax code in 1954. [26] Despite the construction of new malls, mall visits declined by 50% between 2010 and 2013 with further declines reported in each successive year. [27]
A major reported contributing factor to the supposed retail decline is an ongoing "restaurant renaissance"— a shift in consumer spending habits for their disposable income from material purchases such as clothing towards dining out and travel. [3]
Another cited factor is the "death of the American middle class" represented by declining real wages and rising costs creating a middle-class squeeze, resulting in large-scale closures of retailers such as Macy's, JCPenney, and Sears which traditionally relied on spending from this market segment. [28] Particularly in rural areas, variety stores such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar, once thought to be unaffected by the apocalypse since they have continued growing rapidly, are now perceived as being at best a symptom of the phenomenon, and at worst a direct cause of rural, independent retailers collapsing, unable to compete with the lower margins that national chains can sustain. [29] [30]
Poor retail management coupled with an overcritical eye towards quarterly dividends cause a lack of accurate inventory control, so the sales floor suffers from underperforming merchandise and out-of-stock merchandise, creating a poor shopping experience for customers. The focus on short-term balance sheets induces management to understaff retail stores in order to keep profits high. [31] [32] Furthermore, many long-standing chain retailers are overloaded with debt, [33] often from leveraged buyouts from private equity firms, which hinders the profitable operation of retail chains. [34] [35]
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many issues affecting retailers, as many were forced to shut down due to non-pharmaceutical interventions that were issued in an effort to mitigate the pandemic. [36]
At the same time, online shopping boomed during the coronavirus-related lockdown, even though it came back down starting in 2022. [37] Most of the major e-commerce retailers in the United States were classified as essential businesses and were not required to shut down. Buyers stated that they would deliberately buy products from such categories as food and drinks, hygiene, household cleaning, clothing, health, and consumer electronics online rather than in person due to COVID-19. The outbreak is said to have changed shopping behavior permanently: in the US, 29% of surveyed consumers stated that they had no intention to ever go back to offline shopping. In the UK, this number reached 43%. [38]
In June 2020, retail research firm Coresight reported that they estimated that the number of store closures due to the pandemic and ensuing recession would exceed the 2019 record of 9,302. [39] [40]
Coresight Research data later indicated that store closures had reduced by 49% from 2020 to 2021, with store openings increased by 36% over the previous year. [41] Clothing and accessories accounted for 43% of retail closures in 2021. [41] In July 2022, the analytics firm published findings that store openings had exceeded store closings for the first half of 2022, and that there were 10% fewer closings and 3% fewer openings than in 2021. [42]
Company name | Time period | Number of stores closed | Bankruptcy | Open stores | Source |
Borders Books | 2011 | Closed all stores | Liquidated | None | [43] |
The Bon-Ton | 2018 | Remaining 267 locations liquidated | Filed February 2018 | None; last store closed October 2020 [44] | [45] |
Sears Holdings | 2013–2021 | 1,380 Kmart and Sears stores | Filed October 2018 Acquired out February 2019 | 9 (2024) | [46] |
J. C. Penney | 2015–2020 | 177 | Filed May 2020 | 669 (May 2022) | [47] [48] |
Toys "R" Us | 2018 | Closed all US, UK and Australia stores. | Filed 2017 Re-emerged 2019 | 80 Canada stores, 160 Japan stores, 1 US Flagship store, 400+ stores within Macy's | [49] [50] |
J. Crew | 2018–2020 | 54 | Filed May 2020 | 492 | [51] |
Barneys New York | 2019 | 15 | Filed 2019, liquidated | None | [52] |
Forever 21 | 2019 | 200 (approx.) | Filed September 2019 | 600+ | [53] [54] [55] |
A.C. Moore | 2019–2020 | 145 | Filed September 2019 | Became Michaels | |
Payless ShoeSource | 2019–2020 | 2,500 – all stores in North America and Puerto Rico (2019) | Filed February 2019 Emerged January 2020 (second bankruptcy) | 700 (Latin and Central America, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Middle East and India) | [56] [57] |
Pier 1 | 2020 | Remaining 942 stores | Filed February 2020 | None | [58] |
Neiman Marcus | 2020 | 6 | Filed May 2020 | 37 | [58] [59] [60] |
Tuesday Morning | 2020 & 2023 | 196 | 1. Filed May 2020; emerged December 2020 2. Filed February 2023; announced liquidations in April | None (Remaining stores liquidated by July 2023) | [61] [62] |
GNC | 2020 | 2450 (approx.) | Filed June 2020 | 4,850 (approx.) | [63] [64] [65] |
True Religion | 2017 & 2020 | 37 | 1. Filed July 2017 2. April - Nov. 2020 | 49 (2020) | [66] [67] [68] |
Brooks Brothers | 2020 | 253 | Filed July 2020 | 171 | [69] [70] [71] |
Bed Bath & Beyond | 2023 | 360 | Filed April 2023 | None (all US & Canada stores liquidated by July 2023) | |
Express, Inc. | 2024 | 100 | Filed April 2024 | [72] |
Researchers have identified customer experience and brand reputation as two factors that can influence whether a retailer will survive. Some more established retailers like Toys "R" Us may not have been as responsive to changing trends in consumer behavior. Some researchers have made recommendations based on trends and technologies to improve the outlook for traditional brick and mortar retailers. [73]
Employing technology, Ikea became one of the first retailers to use Apple's ARKit to develop an augmented reality app that allowed customers to visualize 3D renderings of Ikea products as they would appear in a certain room or place. [74] [75] Macy's, American Eagle, Nike and Sephora were reported to be implementing various technologies to integrate digital experiences to improve consumers' physical shopping experiences. Sephora has installed smart mirrors that use augmented reality technology to allow customers to try on makeup. [76] Walmart automated some aspects of its supply chain, while Kohl's streamlined its retail presence, reducing the size of some stores from 90,000 to between 60,000 and 35,000 square feet, [77] starting the use of robots to help clean and stock shelves. Company executives have said robots lower costs and improve efficiency, but employees report they don't like working with robots. Lowe's has been using LowesBot to help customers find items. [73]
According to a 2018 study from the International Council of Shopping Centers, new stores can increase traffic to retailer websites by an average of 37% and drive up share of web traffic within that market by 27% in what is called a "halo effect". [78] Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Forbes outlined several aspects that aid retail survival, highlighting brand reputation as the topmost factor. [77] In February 2020, Monash University in Australia underlined the three key factors for a healthy survival during an apparent retail apocalypse as delivering a "great in-store retail experience", customer-targeted stock offerings, and "seamless omnichannel integration". [79]
Kmart, formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department store chain, and an online retailer in the United States and operates six remaining Kmart big-box department stores — 3 in the US Virgin Islands and one each in Kendale Lakes, Florida ; Bridgehampton, New York; and Tamuning, Guam.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box discount chain Kmart, which upon completion of the merger, formed Sears Holdings. Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. In 2018, it was the 31st-largest. After several years of declining sales, Sears's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores.
Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids and various others. The company was founded in 1948; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout the 1970s and 1980s to develop downtown shopping malls in cities across Canada. Each mall contained an Eaton's store, or was in close proximity to an Eaton's store, and typically the mall itself carried the "Eaton Centre" name. These joint ventures were a significant retail development trend in Canada during that period.
Lakeside Mall is a defunct super-regional shopping mall in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Located on the M-59 commercial corridor, the mall is currently anchored by Macy's and JCPenney via exterior entrances, with two vacant anchor stores previously occupied by Lord & Taylor and Sears. With 1,550,000 square feet of retail space spanning two floors, Lakeside was the largest mall in Michigan by leasable square footage at the time of its closing.
Brookstone is a chain of retail stores in the United States and China. It was founded as a mail-order business in 1965, when it started selling items, such as dental clamps and other specialty tools. Its first physical location opened in 1973 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The company's headquarters are currently located in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
The Village at Orange, formerly known as the Orange Mall and later as The Mall of Orange, was a small enclosed shopping mall located in Orange, California. The mall, one of Orange's first, opened for consumer entry in 1971, and was composed of both internal merchants and external anchor tenant buildings, the original latter of which only Walmart remains operational. In September 2023, TVO Management, the mall's property manager, announced that the internal portion of the mall would close on or by January 31, 2024. The mall ceased internal operations on the date provided by TVO Management, marking the end of 52 years of constant public operation in Northern Orange.
Swansea Mall was a regional shopping mall located in Swansea, Massachusetts. It served the Southeastern Massachusetts area. Located off Exit 3 of I-195, the building is situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and Massachusetts Route 118, on Swansea Mall Drive. It had three out-parcel buildings: a Walmart building behind the mall, a former Toys "R" Us, a shared PriceRite and Dollar Tree. The Swansea Crossings shopping plaza is across the street, and contains a Big Lots and a Tractor Supply Company. The mall closed permanently on March 31, 2019. It was purchased by Anagnost Companies in May 2019 at auction.
College Square is an indoor regional shopping mall located in Morristown, Tennessee. College Square is owned by Time Equities Inc and managed by Urban Retail Properties. It features approximately 50 stores and restaurants including AMC College Square 12.
Rego Center is a shopping mall bordered by the Long Island Expressway, Junction Boulevard, Queens Boulevard, 63rd Drive, and 99th Street in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens in New York City.
The Harford Mall is a shopping mall owned by CBL & Associates Properties that is located near the junction of Maryland Route 24 and U.S. Route 1, about 32 miles (51 km) north of Baltimore, in Bel Air, Maryland, United States. Its anchor is Macy's. It is the only shopping mall in Harford County, Maryland. The mall was built on the previous site of the Bel Air Racetrack.
The Summit, formerly Summit Park Mall, was an enclosed shopping mall in Wheatfield, New York. Opened in 1972, the mall became largely vacant by the late 1990s. It underwent renovations in 2004 and 2005 which added new anchor stores and tenants, but after the mall's developers filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, the complex was closed except for three anchor stores: Sears, The Bon-Ton and Save-A-Lot, with two more vacant anchors last occupied by Steve & Barry's and a Macy's closeout store. As of September 2017, Save-A-Lot has closed permanently, leaving only Sears and The Bon-Ton still open in the mall. On April 18, 2018, it was announced that The Bon-Ton would be closing in August 2018. as it is going out of business leaving Sears as the only tenant left. On May 7, 2018, Sears announced that would also be closing in August 2018. In December 2019, within Sears' old location, The Niagara International Sports & Entertainment facility opened. In 2020, a plan was proposed to revitalize the location, converting part of the mall into mixed use spaces, as well as offering lodging for visitors. Developers plan to expand the project to eventually include ice rinks, shops, and eateries.
Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transformco and after that, Sears Holdings Corporation was closed.
Florin Towne Centre is an outdoor shopping center in the unincorporated area of Parkway-South Sacramento in Sacramento County, California, United States, in the Sacramento area. It opened in 2008 on the site of the old Florin Mall, which closed and was demolished in 2006. The 484,500 square feet (45,010 m2) center is anchored by AutoZone, Chuze Fitness, PetSmart, US Foods CHEF'STORE, and Walmart Supercenter.
Lincoln Park Shopping Center was a shopping center located at the corner of Southfield Road and Dix Highway, mostly in Lincoln Park, Michigan, though a portion containing a former Farmer Jack supermarket and a former Wendy's restaurant lay in neighboring Allen Park. Anchored by Sears and completed by 1957, it was one of the first large-scale strip complexes in the Downriver Detroit suburbs prior to the 1970 opening of Southland Center.
Transform SR Brands LLC is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The new company is owned by ESL Investments. Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Sears Holdings on October 15, 2018, Transformco purchased the surviving assets owned by Sears Holdings for $5.2 billion.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a sharp economic toll on the retail industry worldwide as many retailers and shopping centers were forced to shut down for months due to mandated stay-at-home orders. As a result of these closures, online retailers received a major boost in sales as customers looked for alternative ways to shop and the effects of the retail apocalypse were exacerbated. A number of notable retailers filed for bankruptcy including Ascena Retail Group, Debenhams, Arcadia Group, Brooks Brothers, GNC, J. C. Penney, Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus.
Amazon has been struggling to right-size its business in the past year as consumers pulled back from the pandemic-induced move towards online shopping.
815 stores
Today, the brand owns over 600 stores