Thousands of Stores are Closing This Year

According to Coresight Research, an estimated 12,000 shops could close by the end of this year.

The global marketing research firm has found that just six months into this year, there hare been 20% more store closings than last year.

Coresight Research’s figures and retailers’ earnings reports have found that more than 7,000 stores are expected to close their doors this year. Payless ShoeSource accounts for 37% of the closings.

Bankrupt footwear company Payless ShoeSource, which closed its remaining U.S. stores last week, accounts for about 37% of the closings.

The firm tracked the 5,864 closings in 2018, which included all Toys R Us stores and hundreds of Kmart and Sears locations.

It was 2017 that saw a record with 8,139 closings.

According to UBS analyst Jay Sole, tariffs on Chinese imports could put $40 billion of sales and 12,000 stores at risk.

“The market is not realizing how much brick & mortar retail is incrementally struggling and how new 25% tariffs could force widespread store closures,” said Sole in May. “We think potential 25% tariffs on Chinese imports could accelerate pressure on these company’s profit margins to the point where major store closures become a real possibility.”