WORSE IN STORE
Beloved retailers closing 3,000 more stores for good – full list reveals retail apocalypse hits 40% harder than 2023
The key issue causing retailers to close shop
OVER 3,000 major retail stores will be closing in 2024.
Clothing retailers Rue 21 and Express both announced that stores will be closing down, adding to the list of 3,100 retailers shutting stores down this year.
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Rue 21 recently announced bankruptcy and a plan to close all 540 remaining stores across the US in the next six weeks.
Express also announced plans on closing over 100 stores across the US in addition to a store closure in Central New York.
If the rising rate of retailers closing down stores continues, an estimated 8,000 locations will be closed by the end of the year.
That many closures would be 40% more than the US saw last year.
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In 2023, over 4,000 retailers shut down stores, which was twice the amount of store closures from 2022, according to the National Retail Federation.
2023 also saw the closing of hundreds of Bed, Bath and Beyond stores after the major retailer filed for bankruptcy.
The retailer cited inflation as the primary reason for shutting down its in person stores, moving to an online only format.
The inflation rates from January 2023 to January 2024 increased by 3.1 percent, with food prices rising by 2.6 percent, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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In response to the rising rate of inflation, many stores are raising prices or risk closing.
One Canadian supermarket, Loblaws, raised its food prices so dramatically that customers are staging a boycott for the whole month of May.
The Dollar Tree, a retailer known for everything in its stores being $1 or less, announced that it will be raising prices on certain items to as high as $7.
“This year, across 3,000 stores, we expect to expand our multi-price assortment by over 300 items at price points ranging from $1.50 to $7,” the company's CEO, Rick Dreiling, said during an earnings call.
The last time the discount chain announced a price hike was in 2021 when prices on select items went from $1 to $1.25.
Aside from raising its prices, Dreiling also announced that over 1000 stores will most likely be closing in 2024.
Other major retailers such as Walgreens, Walmart, and JCPenney announced major closures this year.
Walmart announced store closures in California, Ohio, and Maryland–totalling to six closures so far this year.
Store closure roundups
MAJOR retail stores across the country are set to close thousands of stores.
- Around 150 Macy's stores are set to close across the US over three years.
- Walgreens announced earlier this year that around 150 locations in the US will be closing.
- Dollar Tree bosses have announced a slew of closures, including 600 Family Dollar shops. These will close this year.
- Walmart has seen several store closures already this year. Supermarkets in El Cajon, California, and Columbus, Ohio, have closed.
- A supermarket in Fremont, California, will close on May 24.
- A Walmart Neighborhood Market outlet in Granite Bay, California, closed in April.
- Best Buy bosses confirmed 24 stores closed during the company's 2024 financial year.
- At least 100 Express stores are to close after the chain filed for bankruptcy.
- An Ulta store in the San Francisco Bay Area is set to close