The Briefing Room
General Category => Economy/Business => Topic started by: DCPatriot on April 22, 2017, 12:29:24 pm
-
Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Shuttering at a Record Pace
Years of overbuilding and the rise of online shopping have come to a head; malls as ‘energy suckers’
snip....
Through April 6, closings have been announced for 2,880 retail locations this year, including hundreds of locations being shut by national chains such as Payless ShoeSource Inc. and RadioShack Corp. That is more than twice as many closings as announced during the same period last year, according to Credit Suisse.
Based on the pace so far, the brokerage estimates retailers will close more than 8,600 locations this year, which would eclipse the number of closings during the 2008 recession.
At least 10 retailers, including apparel seller Limited Stores Co., electronics chain Hhgregg Inc. and sporting-goods chain Gander Mountain Co., have filed for bankruptcy protection so far this year. That compares with nine retailers that declared bankruptcy, with at least $50 million liabilities, for all of 2016.
The seeds of the industry’s current turmoil date back nearly three decades, when retailers, in the throes of a consumer-buying spree and flush with easy money, rushed to open new stores. The land grab wasn’t unlike the housing boom that was also under way at that time.
“Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared,” Richard Hayne, chief executive of Urban Outfitters Inc., told analysts last month. “This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst.”
more at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/brick-and-mortar-stores-are-shuttering-at-a-record-pace-1492818818 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/brick-and-mortar-stores-are-shuttering-at-a-record-pace-1492818818)
-
I know I'm guilty of this. I shop at Amazon and from catalogs because I hate going to the mall.
I do go to the mom and pop stores in my town. I just don't like the mall. I'll make more of an effort to go to the mall I guess in future.
-
Price, quality, and availability.
So many times I kick myself for even bothering to go to a local store for something I need, knowing in the end, I won't find it, or it'll be too expensive. More and more I purchase online; car repair items, guns and ammo, home repair items, and even what should be common items, like nuts and bolts. All the delivery drivers know me well and even honk and wave when they see me as they drive by.
-
We'll see a lot more so-called "Premium Outlets" and "Off-the-Rack" nonsense. Phony discounts off the MSRP.
-
The old family business I inherited is dying partially due to the internet and other changing consumer and business ways. Non of my other siblings wanted it. Probably a few more decent years then it will be done. My dad was very smart for future trends. Told me 20 years ago the internet and other trends was going to by by the business. Told me to get into real estate and that was what I did.
-
You could almost foresee this back 20 years ago when there was such an expansion of commercial expansion. All the new stores -- made me think, "who's gonna buy all that stuff?"
I'll guess that once the construction and openings were done, business was at best "moderate" for a while, until the internet came along. Now, it's a matter of Darwinian survival...