Page 22 - 15NOV2019E

Not so bright Diwali for

offline retailers

Popularity of e-commerce outlets pushes a large number of offline retailers to bankruptcy,
reports tehelka bureau

hanks to online shopping by closing another 155 million square the previous years.
gaining currency amongst the feet of space, according to estimates by Payless filed for bankruptcy in Febru-
people across the globe, the the commercial real estate firm CoStar ary and said it planned to close all of its
retail sector, which emerged Group. “This year we are predicting more 2,500 stores in what could be the largest
T as the sunrise sector, recent- of the same in the retail space”, said Dres retail liquidation in history. Gymboree
ly, is going out of business. Top brands Myers, a CoStar senior consultant. Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
like Forever 21, Walgreens, Dressbarn, Retailers have announced more than protection in January and said it planned
GameStop, Gap, and other chains have 4,300 store closures so far this year, to close more than 800 stores under its
already announced over 8,500 store according to an analysis by Business Gymboree and Crazy 8 banners. Gym-
closings in 2019. This is way more than Insider. Big stores like GAP, JCPenney and boree previously filed for bankruptcy as
we saw during all of 2018. Victoria’s secret announced more than recently as June 2017 and closed nearly
It is even more startling that Core- 300 store closures over the course of 400 stores in the process.
sight Research has predicted that the 24 hours this week. Payless has said it Shopko filed for bankruptcy in Janu-
stores that are closing down their num- plans to close all of its 2,500 stores in ary and has said that it would close 251
ber could hit 12,000 by the end of the what could be the largest liquidation in stores. Even popular and trendy Target
year. The investment bank UBS says that history. finds itself with money-losing stores that
another 75,000 stores could be lost by The whopping closure rate of stores it needs to shake loose.
2026. Retailers closed a record-breaking that rocked the retail industry over the The company said it would close a
102 million square feet of store space in last couple of years has continued in 2019 half-dozen by February, in what has
2017, then smashed that record in 2018 with roughly the same level of closures in become an annual event. The chain shut-

Tehelka / 15 november 2019 22 www.Tehelka.com