/biz/ - Business & Finance

2017 was known as the Retail Apocalypse with the closure of thousands of American stores. Wall Street analysts have since deemed the entire sector borderline uninvestable.

Hundreds of malls are closing as their anchor stores - JCPenney, Sears (now bankrupt), and Macy's have closed dozens of locations. Among the chains that have declared bankruptcy recently are Payless (4,496 stores), BCBG (175 stores), Bebe (180 stores), Aeropostale (800 stores), and Limited (250 stores). Those in danger of default include Claire's (2,867 stores), Gymboree (1,200 stores), Nine West (800 stores), True Religion (900 stores), and other fixtures that may be bankrupt or defunct by the time you read this.

Credit Suisse estimated that 8,640 major retail locations will close in 2017, the highest number in history, exceeding the 2008 peak during the financial crisis. Credit Suisse also estimated that as many as 147 million square feet of retail space will close, another all-time high. For reference, the Mall of America is the biggest mall in this country at 2.8 million square feet. The equivalent of 52 Malls of America are closing in 2017, or per week.

As of 2020 Macy's is set to close 180 stores to 480 million in restructuring cost at the loss of over 2k corporate jobs.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/macys-to-close-125-stores-sees-480-million-in-restructuring-costs-to-2000-corporate-jobs.html

1 in 10 American workers work in retail and sales. They have an average income of $11 per hour, or $22,900 per year. In 2017 one hundred thousand department store workers were laid off - more than all of the people working in the coal industry combined. Job losses in retail could have unexpected social and political consequences as huge numbers of low-wage retail employees become economically unhinged just as manufacturing workers did in recent decades.

Widespread disenfranchisement among the working class always gives rise to greater social ills.