New report finds US store closures are up 218 percent from last year

By

Rebecca Taras

Published
Jul 3, 2017

According to a recent report from Fung Global Retail & Technology Weekly Tracker, approximately 5,321 U.S. retail closings were confirmed between the period of the beginning of 2017 up until June 23—many of which were confirmed in the past six weeks. 
 

This grandiose number is up a staggering 218 percent increase from the year prior. Fung Global is constantly tracking store and openings and closings on a weekly basis. Loss leaders included RadioShack with a loss of 1,000 stores and Payless Inc. coming in at second place with 512 closures.
 
The rise of e-commerce was also partially responsible for this number. For example, Bebe closed down its entire brick-and-mortar chain to be an exclusive online retailer due to tremendously declining sales.

On the positive side, the report also states that there was a 20 percent increase in store openings from last year-2.573 to be exact. TJX accounts for the third largest number of soon-to-be-open stores (111) in the US.
 
In terms of the future , Fung Global predicts the beauty and athleisure channels to soar in the remainder of 2017 and through 2018 because Americans are gravitating towards a more casual lifestyle and beauty leaders like Sephora and Ulta have enhanced their shores to create a more unique and experiential environment for shoppers.