A new analysis from CoreSight Research warns that nearly 3,200 stores are slated for closure across America this year, this representing a 24 percent increase in store closures compared to 2023.
Leading the pack are U.S. drug stores and pharmacies, which shuttered eight million square feet of retail space so far this year. Then comes the rest of the retail sector which is losing inventory and customers due to rampant theft.
Petty “retail shrink” has morphed into “organized retail crime,” the CoreSight Research report explains about just how bad thing have gotten, especially since the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) “pandemic.”
About 30 retailers account for most of the 3,200 U.S. stores being closed this year. Family Dollar captures most of them at more than 600, the data shows. Then we have Tupperware, which is permanently closing its last operating production plant in Hemingway, S.C.
All 148 Tupperware workers will be laid off starting in September. By January 2025, there will no longer be any Tupperware employees as the company shifts to producing products at a plant in Lerma, Mexico, near Mexico City.
(Related: If you are no longer able to afford food for your family, The Wall Street Journal recommends “skipping breakfast” rather than having the greedy banker fat cats strung up for crimes against humanity, and all their stolen loot returned to its original owners.)
The retail apocalypse is here
Pittsburgh-based teen apparel retail chain Rue21 also recently filed for bankruptcy, announcing in the process that it will close all 540 of its stores in the coming days.
Rue21 faces $200 million worth of debt as its lays off all 4,900 company employees because of “under-performing retail locations … inflation and macroeconomic headwinds,” according to CNN.
99 Cents Only, a California-based discount retail chain, also filed for bankruptcy in April because “the last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment,” to quote an ominous report from the Los Angeles Times. 99 Cents Only will soon be closing all 371 of its stores.
Other U.S. retailers that are closing stores this year include:
CVS Health
7-Eleven
Rite Aid
Express
Walgreens
Boot Alliance
Macy’s
The Body Shop
Soft Surroundings
Burlington Coat Factory
Foot Locker
Carter’s
Big Lots
Dollar General
Abercrombie & Fitch
Best Buy
“Last year, retail stores, pharmaceutical and fast-food chains continued a trend of previous years: declaring bankruptcy and closing their doors or shutting down some locations to cut costs, citing inflation, higher costs and profit losses,” reported Just the News about the ongoing retail apocalypse sweeping America.
“In January of this year, the trend continued, led by the iconic department store Macy’s.”
The auto insurance market is likewise seeing major economic ripples as policies surged 26 percent nationwide in just one year, with the expectation being that police rates will remain elevated until 2025.
The housing market, as you probably well know, is also completely out of control with home buyers needing 80 percent more income to purchase a home in 2024 than they did in 2020.
“It’s been 30 years since food ate up this much of your income,” reported The Wall Street Journal, blaming high costs for transportation, fuel, ingredients, services, and labor for prices continually going up at grocery stores, restaurants and food manufacturers.
Former Home Depot and Chrysler CEO Bob Nardell warned earlier this year that even more layoffs are coming because of high interest rates, which he says are “killing” middle- and lower-market companies, leaving behind only the big guys in their wake.
“Inflation is a high-ranking issue among Democrats and Republicans and True Independents,” commented David Byler of Noble Predictive Insights. “Every political group thinks this matters.”
Americans have no idea what is in store for their country once the financial house of cards falls.
