Your favorite retail Store may vanish within the next five years, notes Grumpy Editor.
More than 50,000 stores will likely close — a result of rising operating costs and a higher proportion of ecommerce sales for businesses, estimates a team headed by Equity Research Analyst Michael Lasser.
The biggest decline is expected from specialty retailers, with clothing stores and consumer electronics making up nearly half of the total projected closures while home improvement and auto parts stores are expected to emerge relatively unscathed.
Closures would represent a five percent reduction from the current 940,000 stores across the U.S.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
JAPAN BUILDS FIRST CASINO. A group including MGM Resorts International gets an okay to build Japan’s first casino. It will be an $8.2 billion casino-resort in Osaka, slated for completion by 2029.
UKRAINE WAR AFFECTS GLOBAL TRADE. Global trade this year will be affected by the war in Ukraine and inflation around the world, says the World Trade Organization.
SUICIDE RATES RISE. Driven by more deaths in every age group, suicide rates rose in 2021 after two years in decline. About half of all suicides involve a gun, according to federal data.
INDIA TO SURPASS CHINA IN POPULATION. India’s population is expected to surpass China’s sometime this year, predicts the United Nations. Some demographers say it could happen this month.
NORTH KOREA TESTS BALLISTIC MISSILE. North Korea, in what has become a weekly news release, says it flight tested a solid fuel intercontinental Ballistic Missile for the first time.
THIEVES STEAL PENNIES. In Philadelphia, thieves broke into a trailer in a Walmart parking lot and made off with about two million dimes. That’s about $200,000 worth. The trailer was carrying an estimated $750,000 in dimes.
POSTAGE RATES TO RISE. Postage rates will be going up on July 9. First class stamps rise to 66 cents from 63. The 5.4 percent increase across all first-class mail products is the agency’s fourth rate hike in two years.
