MASS shutdowns for several top retailers has been a continued trend this year, and more are on the way.
Store closures come about for various reasons, whether it’s due to financial woes or out of a desire to restructure and make updates.
Walgreens and other retailers are closing hundreds of stores this year (stock image)[/caption]
At least 15,000 stores for several brands are expected to shutter soon (stock image)[/caption]
A report from Coresight Research now shows that about 5,822 locations have shuttered in the first half of 2025.
Given that 7,325 stores closed in 2024 as a whole, this year is on track to have a considerably larger total.
Current predictions from the research show that as much as 15,000 brick-and-mortar stores could shutdown by the time December ends.
“US store closures are up by two-thirds compared to one year earlier, while openings are flat,” John Mercer, head of research at Coresight, wrote of the report’s discoveries.
“That closures total is compounding closure numbers that were already up, year over year, in week 27 of 2024.”
Mercer added that “US retail is in a period of unusually high real-estate churn as cyclical impacts confront structural shift.”
MACY’S AND BIG LOTS
Macy’s is a notable retailer with mass closures in the works.
It’s modernizing and changing its shopping experience, opting for smaller format department stores rather than the larger ones it’s been known for in the past.
To achieve this goal through what’s called the Bold New Chapter plan, it’s shedding about 150 underperforming locations by the end of 2026.
At least 66 have already shuttered, with CEO Tony Spring noting during a recent earnings call that the closures would bring in around $600 and $700 million for the company continue improving its other stores.
Big Lots also notably filed for bankruptcy in September after weeks of rumors and years of financial struggles that amounted to around $3.1 billion in debt.
The proceedings extended into 2025, and it initially looked as though the company would shutdown only a few hundred stores.
It had already axed 426 in 2024.
By the time the proceedings were finalized, Big Lots was given a second chance by Variety Wholesalers, who kept about 219 locations operational while over 700 others were sold off and closed.
US braces for ‘45,000 store closures’
Some 45,000 bricks-and-mortar stores could close in the next five years, experts have warned.
Several major retailers have announced store closures or gone out of business altogether in recent years.
In 2023, chains such as Foot Locker announced plans to close up to 400 outlets by 2026.
While, other well-known retailers like Tuesday Morning and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Bed Bath & Beyond has closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores and is now an online-only retailer.
The most affected retailers have been clothing, consumer electronics, sporting goods, hobby, book, music, and home furnishing stores since the start of 2019.
UBS has predicted the total number of retail stores will drop by 45k from 958k to 913k.
Despite that, the report says that certain stores should thrive while others decline.
It said retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Target, could be among the winners.
At least 78 of the remaining stores reopened last month.
DRUGSTORE DEBACLE
Some of the most impactful closures in the retail bloodbath in 2025 has been for pharmacy giants like Walgreens and Rite Aid.
Walgreens recently announced that about 1,200 locations will be shut down by 2027, with 500 on the chopping block in at least 33 states this year alone.
The total number accounts for about 13% of the chain’s US store count.
Rite Aid also filed for its second bankruptcy in May, with its first being in October 2023.
Around 1,200 locations are closing, with prescriptions sold off to top rivals like Walgreens and CVS.
The combined shutdowns are causing what experts have dubbed “pharmacy deserts,” with around 48 million Americans now lacking nearby drugstore access, per GoodRx.
CVS is also continuing closures as part of its multi-year plan to axe around 900 retail locations nationwide.
A pharmacy that “outlasted Walgreens, CVS & Rite Aid” also closed this month after 117 years.
