The weak keep getting weaker. Another 3,000 stores will bite the dust and mall vacancies are at an 8-year high.
“In the post-digital era, only the strong will survive. Darwin would love this,” said one retail analyst as JCPenney, Payless, LifeWay Announce 3,000+ Combined Store Closures.
Retail job cuts for January and February total 41,201, said research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in a new survey, including nationwide retailers such as Payless and Charlotte Russe.
“This is significant, and marks an acceleration of store closures and job cuts in the near term," said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “Retail is ground zero for seeing the shifts of change in our lives.”
Lifeway Christian Bookstores announced last week it would be closing the doors of all 170 brick and mortar stores, in a pivot to focusing on digital and e-commerce.
“The decision to close our local stores is a difficult one,” said Lifeway Chief Executive Officer Brad Waggoner. “While we had hoped to keep some stores open, current market projections show this is no longer a viable option.”
“In the post-digital era, only the strong will survive,” Ron Johnson, CEO of Enjoy, a retail technology company, told NBC News. “You need a great brand, a strong balance sheet, and a vision for experience that commences digitally. Darwin would love this.”
Mall Vacancies on the Rise
The Financial Times notes US Shopping Centre Vacancies Rise to Eight-Year High
"US retailers have set out plans to close 5,480 stores, according to Coresight Research — almost as many as the 5,730 announced in all of 2018."
Trump Sounds Like the French
States and Cities throughout our Country are being cheated and treated so badly by online retailers. Very unfair to traditional tax paying stores!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2018
Save the local bookstores was the cry in France. Here's reality.
Ok, bookstore loving friends, here is the truth:
— Lexi Beach (@lexiatwork) October 9, 2018
At a certain point, buying books from the store you love is not going to be enough to keep it open.
Lexi then goes off the deep end with anti-capitalist nonsense.
The problem is not the sustainability of bookstores. It's the immoral capitalist (is that redundant?) system we've all accepted as normal wherein the composition of your neighborhood is dictated by people who do not actually live there.
— Lexi Beach (@lexiatwork) October 9, 2018
Unfair Competition
Businesses that cannot compete always complain about fairness.
They want subsidies at taxpayer expense, higher prices for consumers, or both.
Pathetic Hooey
What a pathetic bunch of hooey from Trump.
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