Analysts have predicted that America will lose up to 50,000 stores in the five years to 2026. 

As an iconic department store becomes one of the latest US companies to announce a string of outlet closures, read on to discover the other big names closing their doors across the country right now – and how many stores they stand to lose by the end of the 2022-23 period.

Unfortunately, like Sears, which is also owned by the company Transformco, Kmart is seeing its stores quietly disappear, even though the discount store stayed open throughout the COVID-19 crisis thanks to its "essential" status. The discount retailer didn’t benefit from the pandemic boom enjoyed by other stores such as Walmart, and reports circulated of eerily empty shelves as stores prepared to close.

Kmart was a popular retailer in all 50 states with around 360 stores in 2019, but four years later just three remain after the closure of its Avenel, New Jersey store in April 2022.

In January 2021, American Eagle Outfitters set out plans to improve its profitability, including doubling its Aerie brand revenue to $2 billion by the end of that year and boosting sales at its American Eagle stores. To hit its targets, the company set out plans to close between 200 and 250 of its outlets, most of which are mall-based, while growing its Aerie brand from 350 stores to between 500 and 600.

At the start of 2023, American Eagle announced that it would be closing its stores in East Hills shopping center in St. Joseph, Missouri; Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth, Illinois; and Chautauqua Mall in Lakewood, New York. The brand kicked off the closures on 15 January.

Department store Sears was already on a path of store closures when COVID-19 hit. Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy in 2018, after which it was bought by Transformco, so it's unsurprising that store numbers continue to fall in the current economic climate. In 2020, 72 Sears stores closed their doors for the last time, followed by a further 16 locations in early 2021.

And the closures have continued. Sears was reportedly left with just 23 US department stores as of August 2021, three of which also shut before the year was out. The number of stores has dropped further to just 15. That's quite the steep decline from the 489 stores it had at the beginning of 2019. 

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, Macy’s had already committed to shutting 125 of its locations over the coming three years in an announcement made in February 2020. Along with the closures, the department store giant said that 2,000 jobs would be cut as it looked to boost profits. In 2020, 28 Macy’s stores and one Bloomingdale’s location closed their doors for the final time.

In 2021 the retailer closed an additional 37 outlets across 19 states, some of which were turned into fulfillment centers to keep up with the uptick in online sales, which grew by 53% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020 and then at a slower rate of 27% in the third quarter. At the start of 2022, Macy's announced that it would be closing a further six stores throughout Alabama, California, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas. And now, it's added four more stores in California, Colorado, Hawaii, and Maryland to its list, with the locations set to shut during the first quarter of 2023.

Pharmacy chain Walgreens had around 8,800 locations in operation in October 2022 but is on an ongoing mission to shut stores across the country.

Back in 2019, the company announced it would be closing 200 locations – and it was later revealed that four Walgreens in the central New York area (North Syracuse, Canastota, Auburn, and Pulaski) would shut up shop before the end of 2022. Another location in Dunkirk, New York opened for business for the final time on 14 November 2022, while four more locations in Louisville, Kentucky are set to close too. 

Florida, Colorado, and Massachusetts also lost one Walgreens store each before the end of November 2022.

Carter’s revealed in October 2020 that it would be permanently closing around a quarter of its stores – some 200 locations – as it chose not to renew leases on its less profitable sites. According to Retail Dive, the store expected 60% of the closures to have happened by the end of 2021 and 80% by the end of 2022, meaning approximately 40 stores will have closed their doors last year.

The children’s apparel retailer is looking to improve the digital side of its business, such as buying online and curbside pick-up, but also hasn’t given up on the in-person shopping experience. As reported by TotalRetail, Carter’s CEO Michael Casey pointed out that the chaos caused by COVID-19 has forged a buyer’s market, saying that the company would be keeping an eye out for opportune investments for future stores.

After almost 120 years of business, department store JCPenney announced in June 2020 that it would be filing for bankruptcy, with plans to shut 149 of its stores over the summer period alone and 242 closures in total, which is 29% of its overall number of stores.

The pandemic was the final straw for the company, which had long been wrestling with the transition to online shopping and competition from retail behemoths such as Walmart and Target. Brookfield Property Partners and Simon Property Group saved the business from liquidation in an $800 million acquisition deal in December 2020. By the end of 2021, the chain had closed approximately 175 stores, with 50 more shutting their doors in 2022.

The troubled games retailer became a stock market and media sensation in early 2021, as ordinary investors started buying up stock in an orchestrated move to hit hedge funds that were betting on the chain's continued demise.

While GameStop enjoyed extraordinary growth in its stock price, it still faces a very uncertain future and will have closed over 550 US stores in the last three years as it switches focus to online. Despite going on a hiring spree in 2021-22, the brand later announced an unspecified number of layoffs, suggesting it hasn't bounced back as much as initially expected. There are currently 2,962 GameStop stores left in the US, down from 3,018 in January 2022.

Since April 2022, Amazon has been closing its 66 non-food and non-convenience stores across the US. The closures will include all of the company's bookstores, as well as its 4-Star and Pop-up stores. It will apparently focus on launching its Style clothing stores, as well as boosting its line of grocery stores. 

In April 2022, pharmacy chain Rite Aid announced that it would be closing 145 stores by the end of that year – 82 more than it had originally planned. The brand is aiming to shed "unprofitable" locations to "significantly reduce costs" after recording a net loss of almost $390 million in a company earnings report that was released in February 2022.

Lingerie and clothing giant Victoria’s Secret announced in May 2020 that it would be closing 250 sites, a quarter of its stores across the US and Canada. By the end of 2020, it had shut 248 stores. Parent company L Brands warned that this could just be the start of closures in the coming years, and it wasn’t long before another announcement disclosed plans to close 30 to 50 more stores in the US and Canada.

The news that CEO Amy Hauk has resigned less than one year after taking on the job has added to the company's ongoing problems, with sales expected to fall by 7% by the end of this year. But now the retailer has a plan of action: its recent merger with digital intimate apparel brand Adore Me will leave the brand with 849 stores, and it plans to close 235 of those in the US after the deal has been completed this month.

In July 2022, home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond announced plans to shut 200 of its locations over two years, representing around 21% of its stores. Liquidating the stores was projected to generate an annual cost saving of between $250 million and $350 million, which the company planned to invest in remodeling its remaining stores and driving up online profits.

The brand identified 37 stores that it would be closing as part of its restructuring plan. The premises, which are located across 19 states, closed their doors for the last time in February 2022. And on 31 August, the chain announced yet more closures: Reuters reported that another 150 stores were set to close as part of the latest business overhaul. The home goods company reported a net loss of $358 million in the first quarter of 2022 and planned to lay off 20% of its staff, including CEO Mark Tritton, in a bid to save its struggling brand.

Tritton was replaced as CEO by Sue Gove, but it wasn't the start of brighter times for the company. In September 2022, it was announced that CFO Gustavo Arnal had fallen to his death from a New York building, another tragedy to rock this once-booming business. In the face of falling sales, Bed Bath & Beyond has now revealed that it will be closing a further 150 stores across the US, including several in New Jersey.

In 2021, drugstore chain CVS announced that it would be closing around 300 stores a year for the following three years. The move will reduce CVS stores throughout America by about 10%. According to Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData: "Too many [CVS] stores are stuck in the past with bad lighting, depressing interiors, messy merchandising and a weak assortment of products." It's thought the closures will enable the chain to invest in its remaining stores while boosting its "rapidly expanding digital presence."

Since the start of 2022, CVS has been steadily shutting locations in places including Falls Church in Virginia, Fresno in California, and Johnson City in Tennessee. The closures will help establish a "new retail footprint strategy aligned to evolving customer needs," according to a company spokesperson. 

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