Retail
Layoffs Are 92 Percent Higher In 2019 – And Now Even Wal-Mart Is “Quietly
Closing Stores”
Just like we witnessed
during the last recession, major retailers are laying off tens of thousands of
workers, and it looks like this will be the worst year for store closings in
all of U.S. history. Many are referring to this as “the retail apocalypse”, and without a doubt this is one of the
toughest stretches for retailers that we have ever seen. But many believe
that what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning. After all, if retailers are struggling
this much now, how bad will things be once the next recession really gets
rolling?
Of course the truth is
that things have been rocky for the retail industry for quite a few years, but
the numbers are telling us that this crisis is really starting to accelerate.
According to Challenger,
Gray & Christmas, retail layoffs were up a whopping 92 percent in January
and February compared to the same period a year ago. The following comes
from NBC
News…
More than 41,000 people
have lost their jobs in the retail industry so far this year — a 92 percent spike in layoffs since the same time
last year, according to a new report.
And the layoffs continue to mount, with JCPenney
announcing this week it would be closing 18 stores in addition to three
previously announced closures, as part of a “standard annual review.”
Yes, competition from
Internet commerce is hurting the traditional retail industry, but it certainly
doesn’t explain a 92 percent increase.
And very few retailers
have been able to avoid this downsizing trend. At this point, even the
largest retailer in the entire country has begun “quietly closing stores”…
Walmart is closing at
least 11 US stores across eight states.
The stores include one Walmart Supercenter in
Lafayette, Louisiana, and Walmart Neighborhood Market stores in Arizona,
California, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
For decades, Wal-Mart
has been expanding extremely aggressively.
They have plenty of
cash, and so the only way that it would make sense for them to close stores is
if they anticipated that we are heading into a recession.
6085 W. Chandler Blvd.,
Chandler, Arizona
3900 W. Ina Road, Tucson, Arizona
1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, California
712 N. Western Ave., Liberal, Kansas
1229 NE. Evangeline Trwy., Lafayette, Louisiana
3603 Broad River Road, Columbia, South Carolina
1757 W. Andrew Johnson Hwy., Morristown, Tennessee
2501 University Commons Way, Knoxville, Tennessee
7000 Iron Bridge Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia
2864 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Virginia
7809 NE. Vancouver Plaza Dr., Vancouver, Washington
3900 W. Ina Road, Tucson, Arizona
1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, California
712 N. Western Ave., Liberal, Kansas
1229 NE. Evangeline Trwy., Lafayette, Louisiana
3603 Broad River Road, Columbia, South Carolina
1757 W. Andrew Johnson Hwy., Morristown, Tennessee
2501 University Commons Way, Knoxville, Tennessee
7000 Iron Bridge Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia
2864 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Virginia
7809 NE. Vancouver Plaza Dr., Vancouver, Washington
Of course Wal-Mart is in
far better shape than almost everyone else in the industry.
One of Wal-Mart’s key
competitors, Shopko, has just announced that they will be shutting down all of their
stores…
The company was unable to find a buyer for the
retail business and will begin winding down its operations beginning this week,
the company said in statement released Monday. The decision to liquidate will
bring an end to the brick-and-mortar business that began in 1962 with one
location in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
And personally I was
very saddened to learn that Lifeway Christian Bookstores has also decided to close all their brick and mortar stores…
Lifeway Christian
Bookstores announced last week it would be closing the doors of all 170 brick
and mortar stores, in a pivot to focusing on digital and e-commerce.
“The decision to close our local stores is a
difficult one,” said Lifeway Chief Executive Officer Brad Waggoner. “While we
had hoped to keep some stores open, current market projections show this is no
longer a viable option.”
Whenever I do an article
like this, I always have some readers that try to convince me that this is only
happening because of the growth of Internet retailing.
And yes, Internet
retailing has been growing, but it still accounts for less than 10 percent of
all U.S. retail sales. In addition, it is important to point out that
Internet retailers had a very disappointing holiday season just like brick and
mortar retailers did.
Ultimately, the truth is
that the U.S. economy has been steadily slowing down in recent months.
During the months of
December, January and February, the amount of stuff being moved around the
country by truck, rail and air was lower than during all of those same months a
year earlier. The following comes from Wolf
Richter…
Now it’s the third month in a row, and the red
flag is getting more visible and a little harder to ignore about the
goods-based economy: Freight shipment volume in the US across all modes of
transportation – truck, rail, air, and barge – in February fell 2.1% from
February a year ago, according to the Cass Freight Index, released today. The three months in a row of year-over-year
declines are the first such declines since the transportation recession of 2015
and 2016.
I have a feeling that
when we get the final numbers for March that they will show that this streak
has now extended to four months.
Right now, unsold
goods are starting to pile up in U.S. warehouses at a rate that we haven’t seen since the
last recession. Many retailers that are barely clinging to life will
simply not survive if economic conditions continue to deteriorate.
Unfortunately, it
appears that things are only going to get rougher for the U.S. economy in the
months ahead.
So more retail workers
are going to get laid off, more stores are going to close, and there are going
to be a lot more stories about our ongoing “retail apocalypse” in the
mainstream media.
About the
author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media
personality and political activist. He is the author of four books
including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on
dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his
articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information
the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.
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