Coresight Research tracks news about store closures and openings, bankruptcies and management changes. Our Weekly Store Openings and Closures Tracker focuses on department stores and specialty retail, including, but not limited to, softlines, hardlines, consumer electronics, grocery and furniture.

2018 Major US Store Openings and Closures

YTD 2018, the number of US store closure announcements stands at 4,799 and the number of store openings is 2,644.

What Is Happening this Week in the US?

Mattress Firm Files for Bankruptcy, Plans to Close 700 Stores Mattress Firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 5 and announced plans to close up to 700 unprofitable stores, around 200 of which are expected to close within a few days. The company expects to complete a prepackaged restructuring plan within 45–60 days. The mattress retailer has been facing heightened competition from online retailers such as Casper and internal challenges including changes in key suppliers. Steve Stagner, Executive Chairman, President and CEO of the company said, “We intend to use the additional liquidity from these actions to improve our product offering, provide greater value to our customers, open new stores in new markets, and strategically expand in existing markets where we see the greatest opportunities to serve our customers.” We have added 200 store closures to our 2018 figure as the company has not provided a time period for the remaining store closures. Sears Plans to Close 11 More Stores Department store chain Sears plans to close at least 11 stores—including six Sears stores and five Kmart stores—in the prime shopping months of November and December, according to a Business Insider report. The company had already announced around 330 store closures this year. In addition to the store closures, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company may file for bankruptcy as soon as this week. We have not added the reported 11 store closures to our total for 2018 as the company is yet to confirm the news. Dick’s Sporting Goods to Open Four New Stores Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that it is opening four new stores in October including two namesake stores and two Golf Galaxy stores. The company said that the stores will offer top-of-the-line in-store services and exclusive deals on the company’s private labels as well as key national vendors. These new openings will increase the company’s store count to 733 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores and 96 Golf Galaxy stores across 47 US states.

Non-Store-Closure News

Walgreens Partners with Digital Makeup Company Birchbox Pharmacy store chain Walgreens will partner with Birchbox and also take a minority stake in the digital beauty company to offer customers an enhanced beauty experience both in-store and online. The new concept will see Walgreens stock 11 of it stores—in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas and Minneapolis—with more prestige makeup brands, dedicate 400 to 1,000 square feet of space to Birchbox and allow customers to “build your own Birchbox” at Walgreens. The new concept will pilot in the selected Walgreen stores in December through early 2019.

Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. These include: Ascena, Gap, Lord & Taylor, The Children’s Place and Vera Bradley. Victoria’s Secret store numbers are for North America. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

*Total includes a small number of retailers that each announced one store opening and are not charted. Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. These include: Aldi, AT&T, Casper Sleep, Costco, Gap, Lidl and Mackage. Store-opening numbers for Fabletics have not been calendarized as the retailer did not provide a time frame. Victoria’s Secret and Lululemon store numbers are for North America. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

Year-to-Date 2018 Major US Store Bankruptcies

Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

2017 Major US Store Bankruptcies

Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

2018 Major UK Store Openings and Closures

YTD in the UK, there have been 1,261 store closure announcements and 782 store opening announcements.

What Is Happening this Week in the UK?

The Entertainer to Open 12 New Stores British toy retailer The Entertainer announced plans to open 12 new stores this year. The company posted a 38% year-over-year increase in profit for the 12-month period ended January 2018. Including its flagship store at Westfield London, the retailer operates 148 stores across the UK. The Entertainer also opened in-store toy departments at 59 Matalan branches in September following a successful trial in 2017. Gary Grant, Founder and Chairman of the company said, “Our growth agenda will continue, and we will be looking at every opportunity to expand both nationally and internationally.” TJ Hughes to Open Three New Stores Discount department store chain TJ Hughes announced that it will open three new stores in Scotland at locations including East Kilbride, Dundee and Clydebank. The new openings follow the success of the TJ Hughes’s Glasgow outlet which was its first outlet in Scotland until the opening of its outlet at Livingston last week. These openings are a part of the chain’s development programme to increase its fleet size from 21 to 26 stores in the UK by the year end.

Non-Store-Closure News

Waitrose & Partners to Test In-Home Delivery in London Supermarket chain Waitrose & Partners is testing a new delivery service in London called “While You’re Away” to deliver groceries inside customers’ homes while they are out. The retailer is currently testing this service with 100 customers who have Yale keyless smart locks installed on which they set temporary access codes that are sent to Waitrose via a secure app. The delivery is recorded by chest-cams worn by the delivery drivers and the video is available for customers the next day on request.

Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. These include: Argos, B&M, M&S, Monsoon Accessorize, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. These include: Aldi, B&M, Foot Asylum, Greggs, Hema, Heron Foods, House, Lidl, M&Co, M&S, Pets at Home and Smiggle. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

2017 Major UK Store Openings and Closures

*Total includes a small number of retailers that each announced one store closure and are not charted. Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

*Total includes a small number of retailers that each announced one store opening and are not charted. Coresight Research has calendarized store openings/closures to attribute them to the year in which they fell or are expected to fall. This involves an estimation for some retailers. Source: Company reports/Coresight Research