A story, “Credit Problems Squeeze Retailers Too” on NPR this morning -full story at (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90048679) got me thinking that the shift to an “e-tailing” economy is accelerating. Howard Davidowitz, an independent analyst in New York said, “A record 7,000 U.S. stores could close this year.” Davidowitz bases his prediction on cuts in consumer spending and retailers’ struggles to borrow money and fend off competition. “We’ve got a very difficult situation in the retail business. Several retail chains have filed for bankruptcy protection and another 15 or so are “on the edge,” he says.
A selected list of major recent retail closings based on public records and news releases.:
- Foot Locker: 274 stores in 2007
- Ann Taylor Stores: 117 stores by 2010
- Zales: 100 stores
- Wilsons Leather: 158 stores
- Talbots: 78 Talbots kids’ and men’s stores by September
- Pacific Sunwear: 154 demo clothing stores
- CompUSA: 103 stores
- Bombay Co.: all 388 of its remaining stores
- Sharper Image: 96 stores
- Levitz Furniture: all 76 of its stores
That’s 1,544 stores, the vast majority mall-based. If the average store has 15 employees (conservative) that’s 23,000+ jobs vanished in retail.
If the malls are losing retailers and no longer act as customer magnets, does this portend a faster than anticipated shift in retailing channels from “brick and mortar” to “click”? And if so, what’s the role of printed catalogs, local search, free shipping and web-based marketing to these former mall visitors? Certainly not all of them will go to Wal-Mart.
