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

The US

2019 Major US Store Closures and Openings Year to date in 2019, US retailers have announced they will close 4,309 stores and open 1,586. Our data represent closures and openings by calendar year. 

What Is Happening This Week in the US

Gap, L Brands and JCPenney Announce Closures As we went to press, Gap announced a plan to separate into two independent publicly traded companies: Old Navy, and a yet-to-be-named company, which will consist of the Gap brand, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City. The company also announced plans to close about 230 Gap brand stores over the next two years. Meanwhile, L Brands announced plans to close 53 Victoria’s Secret stores across the US and Canada, and JCPenney announced it will close 18 full-line stores and nine ancillary home and furniture stores in 2019. Our data charted below do not include these newly announced figures. Southeastern Grocers to Shut 22 Stores  Supermarket chain Southeastern Grocers has confirmed that it will shut 22 stores across four states by March 25: 13 Bi-Lo stores, seven Winn-Dixies and two Harveys Supermarket stores. This development comes around nine months after the retailer had emerged from bankruptcy through a restructuring plan that included the closure of 94 stores.  E.L.F. Beauty Set to Shutter All 22 Stores California based beauty retailer E.L.F. Beauty has announced that it will close all its 22 stores following underwhelming fourth quarter results, as it seeks to focus on digital expansion and selling its products via national retailers. The company did not divulge details regarding the timeline for these closures, so we have not included these numbers in our tracker. Hudson’s Bay Company Plans to Close 20 Saks Off 5th Stores Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) has announced that it plans to shutter up to 20 Saks Off 5^th stores as part of the company’s strategic plan to cut costs, simplify the business and improve overall profitability. The company did not divulge details of the timeline for the closures so we have not included them in our tracker. HBC also announced that it will wind up its housewares chain, Home Outfitters in Canada, by the end of this year.  [caption id="attachment_78490" align="aligncenter" width="784"] Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78491" align="aligncenter" width="786"] *Total includes retailers that have announced multi-year store opening plans which have been included based on an estimate for each year, which includes Aldi’s five-year plan for store openings through 2022
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78492" align="aligncenter" width="790"] *Total includes a small number of retailers that each announced between one and five store closures and are not included in the chart above
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78493" align="aligncenter" width="788"] *Total includes a small number of retailers that each announced one or two store openings and are not included in the chart above
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]   2019 Major US Store Bankruptcies [caption id="attachment_78494" align="aligncenter" width="796"] Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]   2018 Major US Store Bankruptcies [caption id="attachment_78495" align="aligncenter" width="800"] *A’gaci emerged from bankruptcy in August 2018
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]

The UK

2019 Major UK Store Closures and Openings Year to date in the UK, major retailers have announced 285 store closures and 327 store openings. Our data represent closures and openings by calendar year. 

What Is Happening This Week in the UK

HMV Reopens Nine Stores Entertainment retailer HMV has reopened nine stores following its announcement earlier this month that it would close 27 stores. Nine stores including those located at Merry Hill, Tunbridge Wells, Plymouth, Reading, Meadowhall, Braehead, Bath, Bluewater and Glasgow (on Fopp Byres Road) have reopened in the last two weeks following new owner Sunrise Records’ successful negotiations with their landlords. Brooks Brothers Opens Third Store in UK US men’s clothing retailer Brooks Brothers has opened a store at ICON Outlet at London’s O2 arena, its third store in the UK. The store will feature the retailer’s classic clothing items such as navy blazers, button-down oxford dress shirts, cotton chinos, polos and regimental silk ties, along with men’s tuxedos and formalwear accessories.

Non-Store-Closure News

Jack Willis Seeks to Offload Four Stores to Cut Costs British clothing retailer Jack Willis is looking for new tenants to take over the leases of its stores in Brighton, Chester and Worcester as it seeks to relocate to lower-cost stores elsewhere in the cities. The retailer is also seeking to sell the lease on its Cheltenham store, but claimed that it does not intend to leave any of these cities. [caption id="attachment_78496" align="aligncenter" width="788"] Coresight Research attributes store openings and closures to the year in which they occurred or are expected to occur. We estimate this information for some retailers including Debenhams, Homebase, Laura Ashley and New Look
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78497" align="aligncenter" width="786"] Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78498" align="aligncenter" width="790"] Coresight Research attributes store openings and closures to the year in which they occurred or are expected to occur, and we estimate this information for some retailers, including Argos, B&M, Homebase, M&S, Monsoon Accessorize, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption] [caption id="attachment_78499" align="aligncenter" width="786"] Coresight Research attributes store openings and closures to the year in which they occurred or are expected to occur, and we estimate this information for some retailers, including B&M, Footasylum, Greggs, Habitat, Hema, Heron Foods, House, Lidl, M&Co, M&S, Pets at Home, Sainsbury’s and Smiggle
Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]

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Notes Figures represent store openings and closures that occured, or are expected to occur, in the respective calendar years. For some retailers, store opening and closure numbers are estimated, including from part-year data, global figures or announced closure/opening programs that span multiple years. Estimates are updated as companies file details of changes in their store estates. Figures for openings and closures are gross.