Shoppers look for closing sales discounts at Party City in Stamford, Conn. July 3, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore | Albany Times Union | The Hearst Newspaper | Getty Images
U.S. store closings last year hit their highest level since the pandemic — and even more locations are expected to close this year as shopper dollars increasingly go to a few industry winners, according to an analysis by Coresight Research.
Major retailers including Party City and Macy’sclosed 7,325 stores in 2024, according to data from the retail advisory group. This is the sharpest jump since US retailers closed almost 10,000 stores in 2020, the year the Covid pandemic began.
So far this year, foreclosures continue to rise. Retailers have already announced 1,925 store closures so far in 2025 – and that was just on January 10. The five retailers that have announced the most closures this year are Party City, Very Big, Walgreens Boots Alliance7-Eleven and Macy’s, respectively.
The retail advisory firm projects that retailers will close about 15,000 stores this year as some legacy brands shrink and file for bankruptcy protection, or liquidating companies close locations.
The startling figures reflect the stark divide between retailers gaining market share and those losing ground. Amazon, Costco AND Walmart have become larger as buyers seek value and convenience. On the other hand, some smaller chains and specialty retailers have struggled to keep their doors open or have been forced to downsize.
An increase in bankruptcies contributed to the high number of closings in 2024. According to Coresight data, there were 51 retail bankruptcies in 2024, up from 25 in 2023. Some of them, like Party City, have most of their closings in 2025.
Consumer spending has remained strong — but a larger share of dollars has gone to fewer retailers. Holiday sales rose 4% year-over-year to $994.1 billion for Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, according to the National Retail Federation, the industry’s main trade group. The total excludes car dealers, gas stations and restaurants.
That’s roughly in line with pre-pandemic vacation spending, which grew an average of 3.6% from 2010 to 2019.
Specialty retailers in particular have struggled: In December, discount chain Big Lots said it would close all of its stores after a sale of the company fell through, days before The Container Store filed for bankruptcy protection. Fabric and crafts retailer Joann filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month for the second time in a year.
But it wasn’t just specialty stores. Last year saw the largest number of closures Dollar tree– Family Dollar owned, CVS HealthConn’s, rue21 and Big Lots, respectively. Conn’s, a home goods and furniture retailer, and rue21, a teen clothing retailer, all closed stores after the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024.
John Mercer, head of global research at Coresight, said competitive threats, not falling demand, were to blame.
“Demand may be strong among consumers, but where is some of this increased demand going? Where is it being channeled?” he said.
He said retailers that close stores tend to fall into three categories: They’re closing all locations as part of a liquidation, such as Big Lots; closing many of their stores after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, such as the Container Store; or shrinking their footprint as they adapt to fast-changing consumer preferences, like Walgreens and CVS drugstores and legacy Macy’s department stores.
Macy’s, for example, is in the midst of closing about 150 name-brand stores nationwide by early 2027. The department store operator has closed roughly 50 of them a year since making the announcement in early 2024. It is opening a limited number of stores that are smaller, off-mall versions of its name stores and new locations of its top-performing brands, Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury.
Some newcomers are being pushed away from the sales of older vendors, Mercer said. Coresight estimates that Chinese e-commerce companies Shein and Temu pulled in a total of about $100 billion in sales last year, with most of that coming from outside the US.
For example, more Americans are turning to sites like Temu for party balloons and storage tubs, which may have contributed to the bankruptcy filings of Party City and The Container Store last year, he said.
Even a small percentage drop in sales can be a blow to the retailer’s stores, which come with high fixed costs such as rent and labor, Mercer said.
Several unique factors have widened the gap between store openings and closings, according to David Silverman, a retail analyst at Fitch Ratings. When a major mall like Macy’s closes, he said it can cause smaller retailers to exit as well. As some stores in shopping centers or malls close, they are also being replaced by fitness studios, urgent care clinics or apartments instead of another retail store.
He added that population shifts during the Covid pandemic changed retailers’ store traffic patterns and shook up where they might want to locate.
“Most companies aren’t adding a significant amount of square footage, and even those that until recently were adding a lot, like dollar stores, are rethinking their footprints,” he said.
Silverman said he expects more stores to continue to close than open in the U.S. as retailers’ growth comes from online sales and as larger companies take a bigger share of the market. Some, like Walmart, add much more volume with one store than specialty retailers get from the dozens of locations they close, he added.
Investors will soon get an update on which retailers are outperforming and underperforming. Most major retailers will release their holiday quarter results starting in mid-February.
Several retailers, including Kohl’s and Macy’s, announced their plans to close stores before sharing full quarterly results. Kohl’s said earlier this month it will close 27 underperforming stores by April, along with closing an e-commerce fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California in May.
Still, there is some hopeful news for the retail industry: Store openings also accelerated last year in the U.S. to 5,970 — the highest number since Coresight began tracking store openings and closings in 2012. The firm predicts that to remain almost flat in 2025, with an estimated 5,800 stores opening.
last year, Dollar GeneralDollar Tree, 7-Eleven, Mexican convenience store Oxxo and Five below counted more store openings.
So far this year, the top five retailers in terms of announced store openings in the US are Aldi, JD Sports, Burlington Stores, Pandora and Barnes & Noble, respectively.