More news on the Retail Apocalypse

In this CNBC article (6/2/2017), they give a bunch more facts and stats on the Retail Apocalypse, and a look at the coming Mallpocalypse.  Here are some of the key points in the article:

-Credit Suisse predicts 20 to 25% of all malls (in the U.S.) will close down in the next five years.  There are about 1,200 enclosed malls in the country, so that means 240 to 300 are expected to close.  Other sources have predicted 400 will shut down in the next five years.
-Retail sales growth is the weakest since the Great Recession of 2008.
-Luxury purse maker Michael Kors is closing 100 stores.
-Gymboree is now in bankruptcy.
-Retailers fired 6,100 workers in May 2017.  That means about 95,000 retail workers have lost their jobs in the last seven months.
-16 million people, 1 in 10 American workers, work in retail.

Meanwhile...
-Amazon is opening physical bookstores.
-Lidl (pronounced Lee-dul), a German grocery store, is opening lots of new stores.

This isn't a recession that's closing all these stores.  Not yet, anyhow, I think we'll head into a recession in the six months to a year.  What's happening to Retail stores is what happened to factory jobs in the 1980's-2000's, and what happened to music in the 90's.  New technology, automation, and changing buying habits have changed the game.  The old school department stores, mall stores, and other retailers just didn't keep up.  It's a major business revolution, and it's far from over.  Just like factory workers in previous decades, thousands, and likely millions, of retail workers will have to learn a new career... or create their own job or business in some way. 

H H Gregg is closing all 220 stores

Earlier in the year, electronics stores was going to close 88 poor performing stores.  As you can see from the news clip above, as of 4/7/2017, they're closing all 220 stores.  Retail Apocalypse continues...

Mallpocalypse: 5,233 Retail Store Closings between 2014 and 2020

There are now over 3,300 retail stores closed or closing soon in the U.S..  When you add chain stores that have closed since 2014 and those scheduled to close by 2020, the number is at least 5,233.  And that's if we DON'T have a recession and the economy strengthens.  Here are a couple of key articles about what's happening:

Clark Howard's latest list of store closings.

The Harsh Reality of Shopping Malls- clark.com

Retail's "bigger problem hiding"- Business Insider 4/13/2017
There are over 220 mores more stores closing on this list that I didn't count above...

The Retail Apocalypse has Officially Descended on America- Business Insider 3/21/2017

The online version of my zine: 43 ideas to reuse Dead Malls

Big Picture: First reference to the "R" word

In this CNBC article/clip from earlier today, financial trader makes the case that things aren't going the way Wall Street was hoping, and the economists might start using the "R" word.  The "R" word is "recession."  

I've been expecting the start of a recession for a while now for several reasons.  But what does this mean for you, a fairly average person out there working away in the U.S.?  We are probably heading into a recession right now, or will within a few months.  For everyday people out there, that means fewer jobs, fewer good jobs, layoffs, some business closings, and a time to tighten up your budget.  If your work is steady and not likely to be affected, cut back on unnecessary spending, put a little more cash in the bank in case of the proverbial rainy day, and slog it out.  Normally, we get a recession about once a decade, and it lasts a year or so.

But we aren't in "normal" times, by any means.  This CNBC republishing of a New York Times article from this past Satruday (4/17/2017) we learn that 89,000 retail workers have lost their jobs since October, and that many see this a a complete change of the retail industry we grew up with.  "Store closures, meanwhile, are on pace this year to eclipse the number of stores that closed in The Great Recession of 2008." 

What we are seeing right now is the collapse of traditional retail sales that was an integral part of the Industrial Age economy.  3,500 major chain stores have closed in the last couple years or are scheduled to close right now in 2017.  And that's while the economy is doing fairly well.  This is going to be big.  What's happening to bricks and mortar stores, from Sears on down, will do to the retail world what the 80's and 90's did to traditional manufacturing.  

Here's where this matters to you.  If any part of your job or business depends on people who sell physical items in actual physical stores, YOU WILL BE SERIOUSLY AFFECTED by this recession.  This will be big, it will affect nearly everyone, and it's gonna hurt.  Bike shop owners, skate shop owners, snowboard shop owners, action sports manufacturers, I'm talking to you.

But there is a silver lining.  This is the point where ecommerce (aka online shopping) is going to take over as the main form of buying most items in the U.S. and the civilized world.  If you work in that area, this recession could be amazing for you.  Recessions decimate millions of people who don't pay attention to long term trends and economics.  But recessions (and depressions, which IS possible now) also offer amazing opportunities to entrepreneurs.  Where you fall in this economic tipping point is up to you.