Brick and mortar retail is falling down

Brick and mortar retail is dying according to many reports. Here’s an example:

American retailers are closing stores at the fastest pace ever.

Roughly 10% of mall retail space - or 1 billion square feet - is on the verge of being closed, having rents slashed or transformed into something else. And in March, retailers cut 30,000 jobs, the same as in February.

It was the worst two-month span of job cuts for the sector since 2009 - during the depths of the Great Recession!

This year, as many as 8,640 total stores may close - which would outpace the 6,200 closed in 2008.

And as I've pointed out for years, it's because the companies failed to adapt. They were slow to recognize the changing tides and are now being destroyed by a single company... Amazon .”

Industrial sector data scarier than retail

The sales figures for Black Friday are out and they are scary. Brick-and-mortar store sales plummeted 10.4% over the weekend from last year's levels.

Online sales increased on Black Friday by 14% over last year to $2.7 billion
and on Cyber Monday by about 16% to $3 billion, but that did not make up for the plunge in in-store sales. On-line sales were up about $750 million while in-store sales fell $1 billion.

Retail sales at Walmart and Macy’s have looked sad for a while. Retail sales point to the potential for the Grinch to steal Christmas for investors.