- Sears is avoiding liquidation, with chairman Eddie Lampert winning a bankruptcy auction with a plan to keep the retailer alive.
- More than 3,800 stores were slated to close across the United States in 2018.
- Retailers including Walgreens, Toys R Us, and Gap closed hundreds of stores each.
- A retail apocalypse is ripping through the industry, leaving clearance sales and empty malls in its wake.
The retail apocalypse has descended on America.
Department stores like Macy's, Sears, and JCPenney, and retailers including Toys R Us, BCBG, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Bebe have closed dozens of stores in recent years.
In 2013, Sears had nearly 2,000 stores. This week, the company narrowly dodged liquidation when chairman Eddie Lampert won a bankruptcy auction with a plan to keep the retailer alive. Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments, said last week that its $5 billion bid would save up to 50,000 jobs and keep about 400 stores open. The plan still must be approved by the bankruptcy court.
Sears isn't the only company that is struggling to adjust to the rise of e-commerce and the fall of foot traffic. With vacancy rates continuing to rise, walking through a mall is like walking through a graveyard.
Here's photographic evidence that a retail apocalypse is hitting the United States hard:
Perhaps most emblematic of the retail apocalypse are photos of dead malls.
As customers increasingly shop online, malls are suffering the consequences.
Visits to malls declined by 50% from 2010 to 2013, according to the real-estate research firm Cushman & Wakefield.
In the nearly two years since it closed, Chicago's Lincoln Mall has transformed from a vibrant shopping center into an eerie, deserted wasteland.
The mall closed after many retailers — including Sears — shuttered their locations inside the shopping center.
Photographer Seph Lawless documents abandoned and forgotten malls across the United States.
While abandoned malls are spooky, shopping centers in their death throes are scary in a different way.
Regency Square Mall in Richmond, Virginia, is still open, but numerous storefronts have gone dark as retailers have closed their stores. This is what the mall looked like during a visit in 2017.
The mall's operators had attempted to cover up the closings by installing vending machines in boarded-up walls.
The mall seemed almost as empty as the closed malls.
Roughly a third of shopping malls are at risk of dying off as a result of store closings, according to data from Green Street Advisors. When a mall loses an anchor store, like Sears, it can be nearly impossible to survive.
Source: Business Insider
Retailers are struggling to maintain some semblance of normality as sales slump.
Sears has been hit with both plummeting sales and dwindling inventory, as seen in this empty area of a store in Richmond, Virginia.
Source: Business Insider
Kmart, which merged with Sears in 2005, has been criticized for its disorganized stores.
Some shoppers say Kmart's rough setup is "depressing."
At one store in Hillsboro, Ohio, Kmart hung white sheets to hide the area where the grocery section once was.
Source: Business Insider
When the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2018, it had 687 stores and about 68,000 workers.
Source: Business Insider
The fate of Sears Canada could offer a dark glimpse into what might happen next for closing Sears stores in the US. The retailer began liquidating its assets in October 2017, resulting in apocalyptic scenes in stores.
See more photos of Sears clearance stores in Canada »
As of January 2019, the company will plan to keep about 400 stores open if the bid from Chairman Eddie Lampert is approved by the bankruptcy court.
Source: Business Insider
The financial struggles of Macy's are similarly apparent in its disheveled appearance.
A July 2016 visit to the flagship Macy's store in Manhattan revealed messy shelves and lots of sales.
It's difficult to convince shoppers that this apparel is high-quality when it's presented so haphazardly.
Still, the Manhattan Macy's is better than the scene at Minneapolis' Nicollet Mall location days before it closed.
Macy's announced plans to close at least 11 locations in 2018. It will close eight more at the beginning of this year.
Source: Business Insider
A visit to a Manhattan JCPenney in 2017 revealed similar disorganization.
In addition to clothes thrown on the floor, packaging was damaged and opened.
JCPenney closed 138 stores in 2017 and announced plans to close eight more in 2018. It will close three at the beginning of this year, and more closures are expected to come.
Source: Business Insider, Business Insider
A visit to a Manhattan JCPenney store in May 2018 revealed a similar scene.
The sheer volume of clothing was shocking.
Jill Soltau, the former president and CEO of craft retailer Joann Stores, took over as CEO of JCPenney in October 2018.
"It remains to be seen whether she has the skillset and the ability to move as quickly as she will have to in order to pull JCPenney out of the spiral that it is in," Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School and the former CEO of Sears Canada, told Business Insider's Mary Hanbury of the appointment.
Source: Business Insider
Nearly everything at RadioShack was on sale as the chain prepared to close 1,430 stores in 2017.
A store in Manhattan was covered with signs highlighting sales.
The displays, however, seemed to be hastily set up.
Wet Seal announced plans to close all 171 locations in early 2017.
Crocs announced plans to close 49 locations in 2018 after a wave of closures in 2017.
Claire's, the teen jewelry and accessories retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2018.
Source: Business Insider
At the time, Claire's announced plans to close 92 stores across the US.
Toys R Us was one of the most high-profile retail losses of 2018.
The toy retailer completed the process of liquidating all of its 735 US locations following an unsuccessful attempt to restructure the business through bankruptcy.
Stores across the country put everything on clearance in an attempt to clear out inventory.
The stores were in a depressing state.
Source: Business Insider
Shelves and fixtures were for sale in addition to the toys.
It is a depressing downfall for the once-beloved toy retailer.
Mattress Firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early October 2018.
The retailer announced plans to close more than 200 locations imminently.
Source: Business Insider
When Business Insider's Mary Hanbury visited Mattress Firm locations earlier in 2018, she reported she was struck by the lack of customers.
"Even with the sales and discount signs, customers didn't seem to be biting," Hanbury reported.
Source: Business Insider
16 major US retailers filed for bankruptcy or announced liquidations in 2018.
Nine West, Remington Outdoor, and The Bon-Ton Stores are among the retail companies that filed for bankruptcy. Bon-Ton later liquidated its business.
RIP, retail as we know it.
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