By Dorothy Philbin | CNBNews Contributor
Store Closings in 2022
Maybe there is hope for mom and pop stores if they can just hold on long enough.
We’ve been doing a lot of talking and worrying, with cause, about “mom and pop” stores and if they can survive by the time the pandemic ends. During this time, however, we haven’t been looking at big box stores and those which have been in operations for more than a century. There is always “good news/bad news” in issues such as this. The good news/bad news is that if major mall stores close, the mom and pop stores pick up the slack – if they can survive that long.
Some chain stores are closing completely, others are just changing their mode of operations. Is there a street corner in any city without a Starbucks? There will be more in the next year or two. The coffee store will be closing about 400 full-service stores but will be opening about 700 drive-throughs. You will soon be able to buy a $4 cup of coffee without getting out of your car. That expensive coffee made a 21.6% profit for the company.
Bed, Bath and Beyond will be closing up to 200 stores but fear not, you will still be able to shop at one of the 1020 remaining stores.
Disney will be closing 60 stores and go to online sales. Walt Disney is probably kicking in his grave trying to come back to restructure the company to the family-affordable “world” it once was.
Macy’s has good news/bad news of its own. The bad news is that they will be closing about 125 stores. The good news? They made a 260% profit last year. In Deptford, Macy’s owns the store and a big portion of its parking lot. To improve their financial situation they sold part of their parking lot which will become a restaurant if all the permits are acquired.
J.C. Penney’s will close 175 stores which they are blaming on the pandemic. Most people realize that they were in financial trouble long before COVID- 19. Their good news is that they have had major catalogue sales for decades. They can easily convert catalogue sales into online sales.
Gap/Banana Republic are sister stores, owned by the same company. Their plan is to close 350 stores by the end of 2023. Unlike Macy’s 260% profit however, Gap has lost 152%.
Godiva, the Swiss chocolate company is closing all stores in North America. If you are a “choc-lo-holatic” fear not. Their candy will still be sold at Target, Boscov’s and online.
K-Mart, sadly, was not able to compete with Target and Walmart. There were 2,000 stores only a decade ago, today there are 17.
Before we either cheer or jeer there is something else to take into consideration – what will happen to the empty buildings? Looking around the area we see Echelon Mall which only has Boscov’s and one or two smaller stores open. This is even after half of the mall was razed. Granite Run Mall saved Boscov’s as a stand alone store but tore down the rest of the mall. Moorestown Mall isn’t doing very mall though the strip malls around it seem to be thriving.