Are we next?

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/55449-13-of-the-biggest-retailers-in-america-are-closing-down-stores

Barack Obama recently stated that anyone who is claiming that America's economy is in decline is "peddling fiction." Well, if the economy is in such great shape, why are major retailers shutting down hundreds of stores all over the country? Last month, I wrote about the "retail apocalypse" that is sweeping the nation, but since then it has gotten even worse. Closing stores has become the "hot new trend" in the retail world, and "space available" signs are going up in mall windows all over the United States. Barack Obama can continue huffing and puffing about how well the middle class is doing all he wants, but the truth is that the cold, hard numbers that retailers are reporting tell an entirely different story.

Recently, Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert released a letter to shareholders that was filled with all kinds of bad news. In this letter, he blamed the horrible results that Sears has been experiencing lately on "tectonic shifts" in consumer spending...

In a letter to shareholders on Thursday, Lampert said the impact of "tectonic shifts" in consumer spending has spread more broadly in the last year to retailers "that had previously proven to be relatively immune to such shifts."

"Walmart, Nordstrom, Macy's, Staples, Whole Foods and many others have felt the impact of disruptive changes from online competition and new business models," Lampert wrote.

And it is very true—Sears is doing horribly, but they are far from alone. The following are 13 major retailers that are closing down stores ...

Sears lost 580 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2015 alone, and they are scheduled to close at least 50 more "unprofitable stores" by the end of this year.
It is being reported that Sports Authority will file for bankruptcy in March. Some news reports have indicated that around 200 stores may close, but at this point it is not known how many of their 450 stores will be able to stay open.
For decades, Kohl's has been growing aggressively, but now it plans to shutter 18 stores in 2016.
Target has just finished closing 13 stores in the United States.
Best Buy closed 30 stores last year, and it says that more store closings are likely in the months to come.
Office Depot plans to close a total of 400 stores by the end of 2016.

The next seven examples come from one of my previous articles ...

Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.
K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.
J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.
Macy's has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees.
The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.
Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.

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in southtx for produce i buy from fm's and grown some items at my house. shelf stable items and non-food items i can get from amazon as a warehouse/dist. center is about 12 mi away; was also able to set up automatic reorders for each item on my timeframd (and most of the wb items i did actually enjoy using are either at target also, or on amazon for a bit less). sf, the same provider for the 'local' fish at wfm is open to the public here, so I pay less going straight to them. meat....its texas, not hard to find. other items, HEB.

I don't think closing retail stores are a sure sign of a terrible economy. I think it's actually a sign of a shift in how customers purchase goods nowadays, similar to the rise of the big-box retailer years ago.

Before big-box stores existed, most people shopped at small mom-and-pop stores that were local to the community. Big box stores were able to drive these smaller stores out of business because they could offer similar quality for a lower prices (because they were buying high volumes).

The closing of big box stores is simply another progression of this same trend. The difference is that now online retailers are able to offer lower prices because they have less overhead - no retail locations, more efficient staff, etc. This is why Amazon's grocery delivery is seen as such a threat to WFM ... not because it's a sign that the economy is tanking, but that it's able to compete at a high level since Amazon will not need as much overhead (no retail stores in every city, no STL or ASTLs, etc.).

This is likely the fate of a lot of big box stores with high overheads - Barnes & Noble will likely do the same thing.

Not Amazon, but other grocery stores where they can buy the same stuff for less.

The issue is if WF is going to close stores, like other retailers in the industry have been doing.

They may not be running to Amazon for produce, but they ARE running to farmer's markets! I can find a farmer's market or produce stand to go to any day of the week. And when I go to a farmer's market, I know it is pretty much straight from the field. Thrive online market is another option for pantry staples, as well.

Food retailers are not immune... In fact, here in California there have been a number of grocery stores shuttered.

No, but they are running to peapod, instacart, thrive, blue apron, hello fresh, and Amazon pantry. In huge numbers.

There is but one food retailer on there and it's walmart. People aren't yet running to mighty amazon to get their local, organic, humanly raised apples. C'mon folks.

Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

Are we next?

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