Yes, another article on growth of e-commerce and decline of the mall but has some good thoughts and stats to consider:
- The shift has been building gradually for years. But economists, retail workers and real estate investors say it appears that it has sped up in recent months and may be at a tipping point.
- About 89,000 workers in general merchandise stores have been laid off since October. That is more than all of the people employed in the U.S. coal industry.
- The job losses in retail could have unexpected social and political consequences, as huge numbers of low-wage retail employees become economically unhinged, just as manufacturing workers did in recent decades. About 1 out of every 10 Americans works in retail.
- Store closures, meanwhile, are on pace this year to eclipse the number of stores that closed in the depths of the Great Recession of 2008.
- The current torrent of closures comes as consumer confidence is strong and unemployment is low, suggesting that a permanent restructuring is underway, rather than a dip in the normal business cycle. In short, traditional retail may never recover.
- “Things are changing so fast in retail that a year needs to be measured in dog years,”
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