Shoppers look for clearance sale discounts at Party City on July 3, 2023 in Stamford, Connecticut.
Tyler Sizemore | Albany Times Union | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
U.S. store closures last year reached their highest level since the pandemic, and more are expected to close this year as consumer money increasingly flows to a handful of industry winners, according to an analysis by Coresight Research.
major retailers, including party city and macy’s department storeAccording to the Retail Consulting Group, 7,325 stores will close in 2024. This is the largest increase since U.S. retailers closed nearly 10,000 stores in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far this year, closures continue to climb. As of January 10, retailers had announced 1,925 store closures in 2025. The five retailers with the highest number of closures announced this year are Party City, large batch, Walgreens Boots Alliance7-Eleven and Macy’s.
The retail consultancy expects retailers to close about 15,000 stores this year as some legacy brands shrink and file for bankruptcy protection, or liquidation companies close stores.
These staggering numbers reflect the wide disparity between retailers who are gaining market share and those who are losing it. Amazon, Costco and Walmart They are getting bigger as shoppers seek value and convenience. On the other hand, some smaller chains and specialty retailers have struggled to stay open or been forced to downsize.
The surge in bankruptcies will lead to a large increase in the number of bankruptcies in 2024. According to Coresight, there will be 51 retail bankruptcies in 2024, up from 25 in 2023. Some of these businesses, such as Party City, will see most of their closures occur in 2025.
Consumer spending remains strong, but a larger share of the money is flowing to fewer retailers. Holiday sales rose 4% year over year to $994.1 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, according to the National Retail Federation, the industry’s main trade group. That total does not include car dealerships, gas stations and restaurants.
That’s roughly in line with pre-pandemic holiday spending, which grew an average of 3.6% between 2010 and 2019.
Specialty retailers are especially in trouble: In December, discount chain Big Lot said it would Close all stores Container Stores days ago after company sale failed File for bankruptcy protection. Fabric and crafts retailer Joann File for bankruptcy It was the second protection in a year earlier this month.
But it’s not just specialty stores. Last year, the largest number of closures was dollar treefamily dollars owned, CVS HealthConn’s, rue21 and Big Lot respectively. Home goods and furniture retailer Conn’s and teen apparel retailer rue21 have closed all of their stores after their parent companies filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024.
John Mercer, global head of research at Coresight, said the reason for this was competitive threats rather than falling demand.
“Consumer demand may be strong, but where is the increased demand going? Where is it directed?” he said.
He said retailers closing stores tend to fall into three categories: those that closed all of their stores as part of a liquidation, such as Big Lot, and those that closed many stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, such as The Container Store ; or shrinking footprints as they adapt to rapidly changing consumer preferences, such as drugstores Walgreens and CVS and traditional department stores Macy’s.
For example, Macy’s is in the Closing approximately 150 stores of the same name Nationwide closures by early 2027. The department store operator has been closing about 50 stores each year since the announcement in early 2024. It only opens a limited number of stores A smaller, off-site version of its namesake store and new stores for better-performing brands Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury.
Some newcomers are cannibalizing sales from traditional retailers, Mercer said. Coresight estimates that Chinese e-commerce companies Shein and Temu had combined sales of about $100 billion last year, most of which came from outside the U.S.
For example, more and more Americans are turning to sites like Temu to buy party balloons and storage buckets, which may have contributed to Party City and The Container Store filing for bankruptcy last year.
Mercer said even a small drop in sales would hit retail stores, which have high fixed costs such as lease and labor.
Fitch Ratings retail analyst David Silverman said some unique factors widened the gap between store openings and store closings. He said when major mall anchors like Macy’s close, it could also cause smaller retailers to exit. As some stores in malls or malls close, they also replaced Offered by fitness studios, urgent care clinics or apartment Not another retail store.
Demographic changes during the coronavirus pandemic have changed retailers’ store traffic patterns and changed where they may want to open stores, he added.
“Most companies are not adding a lot of square footage, and even the ones that were adding a lot of square footage until recently, like dollar stores, are rethinking their footprint,” he said.
Silverman said he expects more stores to close in the U.S. than to open as retailers’ growth comes from online sales and larger companies capture a larger share of the market. He added that for some of these retailers, such as Walmart, one store can add much more sales than dozens of stores closed by specialty retailers.
Investors will soon get the latest information on which retailers are performing well and which ones are underperforming. Most major retailers will report holiday quarter results starting in mid-February.
Some retailers, including Kohl’s and Macy’s announced their own store closing plans before reporting full quarterly results. Kohl’s said earlier this month it would Closing 27 underperforming stores to April, and in May closed its e-commerce fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California.
However, there is some hopeful news for the retail industry: The number of new store openings in the United States also accelerated last year, reaching 5,970, the highest number since Coresight began tracking new store openings and closures in 2012. The company expects that number to be roughly flat in 2025, with 5,800 stores expected to open.
last year, Dollar GeneralDollar Tree, 7-Eleven, Mexican convenience store Oxxo and Five or less The stores with the most number of stores were counted.
So far this year, the top five retailers with the most announced store openings in the United States are Aldi, JD Sports, burlington store, Pandora They are Barnes & Noble and Barnes & Noble.
