Retailers’ Store Closures Reach 4,800 This Year

Retailers kept up the trend of shuttering stores last week, with Dollar Tree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Amazon making announcements on that front.

Dollar Tree announced it is closing 390 Family Dollar Stores, while Abercrombie is gearing up to shutter up to 40. Meanwhile, Amazon said it will close all of its pop-up stores in Whole Foods, Kohls and malls around the U.S. beginning in April, reported CNBC. At the same time, Charlotte Russe began the liquidation sale of its assets and said it will close all of its 500+ stores, which is an increase from 94 stores, noted the report, citing Coresight Research.

All told, as of late last week, 4,810 retail store closures had been announced in 2019. Just a week earlier, that number was at 4,309 store closings. Coresight noted there have been around 2,264 store openings so far this year, with Peloton, Ulta Beauty, Ross Stores and Indochino opening up locations. Even so, the closings trump the openings, causing concerned real estate companies to hunt for new businesses or concepts to fill the empty square footage. The report noted that some real estate owners are building spaces that will allow several brands to share the store on a rotating business, which would encourage consumers to keep coming back.

Mall owners are also looking for digital native brands to open stores in their properties, and adding coworking spaces, gyms, hotels and apartments that share with the retail space.

Even as malls are facing vacancies, the real estate developer Related is gearing up to open a huge shopping mall in New York City. Dubbed The Shops at Hudson Yards, the mall will open next week and will be anchored by Neiman Marcus.