Map of the Sears and Kmart stores closing in 2017

In this Business Insider article (7/7/2017), there's a map of all 245 Sears and Kmart stores closing this year.  You can zoom in to check out specific areas.  Here's a couple things I noticed from a quick look at it:

- The majority of Sears/Kmart stores closing are east of the Mississippi River.

- Most of the stores closing are in the smaller or medium sized cities in rural areas. 

The Retail Apocalypse: Suburbs versus cities

Just found this great article by Henry Grabar on Slate.  He looks at today's Retail Apocalypse by comparing it to how city downtowns lost much of their retail 50 years ago.  There are different dynamics happening here, but he makes great points and explains the mistakes cities made in fighting the suburban malls decades ago.

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. 

The Retail Apocalypse is hitting teen job market hard

"Young jobseekers are facing a perfect storm of employment barriers this summer." -Jordan Bruneau

In this East Bay Times article, the writer lays out many reasons why teens will have a harder time finding work in many places this summer.

Why do I write a blog about weird ways to make money?  Because a lot of people just can't "Go get a job" anymore.  We need to find alternative ways to make a living.  That's what this blog is about.

The Retail Apocalypse keeps apocalypting: 4,229+ stores closing

This Radio Shack Vine pretty much sums it up.

Late last year, the mass of retail stores closing got dubbed The Retail Apocalypse.  The numbers just keep going up.  The best overall list of stores closing is by Clark Howard and his team at clark.com.  This article now lists 4,229 retail stores closing or closed this year.  That doesn't include Gander Mountain, which is having liquidation sales at 126 stores OR Kohl's that plans to downsize about 200 stores.  That list has expanded by 1,000 or more stores in the last couple of months.  Many, many more stores could close before this shakeout hits bottom.  I haven't seen recent numbers on the total people laid off yet by all of this. 

Somehow, in our Dali-esque, Trump-focused universe, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street is surging even higher today.  BUT... nearly 40% of millionaires surveyed recently do not plan to invest next month.  That's huge.  They're waiting to see how this insanity in both retail and Washington D.C. will pan out. 

Why am I doing this weird little blog about starting a small business or creating your own job?  Because millions of people are going to have to create their own jobs in the next several years. 

A great idea for an abandoned Walmart

Just saw this on Facebook thanks to a share from Scotty Z.  This town took an abandoned Walmart and turned it into a huge, and amazingly cool, library.  There are over 3,500 retail stores closing down this year.  We need lots more of this kind of thinking.

Latest retail store closings list from May 2, 2017

In this latest list of retail store closings, clark.com's list now includes 3,583 stores closing THIS YEAR.  Most of these stores haven't actually closed yet, so we're not seeing the ripple effects on other stores, but those effects will come later in the year. 

A better than expected "jobs created" number just came out, and Wall Street is still thinking things are going along fine.  In addition, Republicans are working on a bill that would repeal many of the financial industry regulations put in place after The great Recession of 2008.  In other words, we're being set up for another, similar collapse in the future.

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...

"Retail Apocalypse" has a Wikipedia page... really

You know it's a fast moving trend when even the list of store closings on Wikipedia isn't up to date.  But yes, there is a page for Retail Apocalypse, so I guess that's as official as it gets.  There's isn't a page for "Mallpocalypse" yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon.

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