Your Virtual Accounting Firm Lists All Stores Closing in 2019
Your Virtual Accounting Firm – As the year comes to an end so do many retailers or at least a part of their storefronts closing shop. 2019 is the year brands as famous as Sears and Kmart close shops at hundreds of their locations. In fact, this year, your trusted virtual accounting firm learned, was a record year for store closures in retail. In the U.S, over 9,000 locations will be closing their doors. An increase of over 50% compared to 2018.
Your trusted virtual accounting firm found out 69% of Americans have shopped online, with the majority at 59% buying clothing. 47% of shoppers bought their first item on Amazon.
Sears and Kmart Stores Closing in 2019
Sears’ former CEO bought the companies out of bankruptcy for $5.2 billion in early 2019 and acquired 425 Sears and Kmart locations. But locations started to close early on and by November 2019 96 other stores closed. This was followed by liquidation sales this month, and by February 2020 only 182 stores are set to stay open. Your trusted virtual accounting firm learned that before the 2018 bankruptcy, there were more than 700 Sears and Kmart stores.
Dressbarn and Charming Charlie
Dressbarn is part of the Ann Taylor and Loft brand family. By the end of this year, 650 stores will close as some are still in the middle of liquidation sales. Charming Charlie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in the summer with plans to close 261 stores a few months back. Your trusted virtual accounting firm learned this is the second time in two years that bankruptcy was file.
Walgreens
There seems to be a Walgreens on every corner in some states in the U.S., but in August of this year, 200 stores were supposed to close. At that time, the company operated 9,277 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Walgreens is the second-largest pharmacy store in America right behind CVS. It specializes in filling in prescriptions, health and wellness products, and even photo services.
GNC and Barney’s Stores Closing in 2019
GNC said it would be closing 900 of its stores, most in shopping malls. Even Barney’s New York is on this list this year. Just a few months ago, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it would close 15 of 22 stores trying to keep New York and California stores open. But as liquidation sales are taking place, only a smaller version of their Madison Avenue store will remain open.
Payless ShoeSource and GameStop
Back in February, the shoe store filed for bankruptcy for a second time just like Charming Charlie. 2,500 stores in North America were closed due to a heavy debt load and unanticipated delays from suppliers forcing inventory to sell at deep discounts. When Payless ShoeSource filed for bankruptcy, the company had $470 million in debt and lost over $63 million in 2018.
GameStop has over 5,700 locations worldwide but they’ll be closing between 1808 and 200 of their stores. Even though the video games market is expected to be worth $90 billion in the U.S., more and more gamers are purchasing and downloading games online, it’s harder for stores in this industry to sta open. In fact, according to DigiWorld, online pc games are expected to take up 47% of the global PC and console gaming revenue this year. 76% of customers say they prefer to play games on mobile devices , taking up a chuck of the revenue that used to belong to stores like GameStop.
Forever 21
This hugely popular apparel store filed for bankruptcy in September with more than 800 stores worldwide. The brand’s spokesperson said it would close stores in Asia and Europe, but remain open in Latin America, U.S. and Mexico. There still no word yet on how many stores will close in total.
