Despite it being a simple flip of a calendar page, I think many of us would agree that the opportunity to put 2024 behind us was a much needed and much celebrated thing. The election happened. Holiday shoppers helped the channel close out the year in relatively strong fashion, providing a sort of mouthwash effect to help us forget about how the previous 10-plus months went.
Well, the first few weeks of the new year have provided anything but a mental reset for the big box corner of the retail world.
A recent Coresight Research report detailed how store closures this year could reach 15,000 locations across the U.S., more than double the number of retail closures in 2024 (7,325), which was the most in a single year since the first year of the pandemic.
Family Dollar (718 closures), CVS (586), Conn’s (553) rue21 (543), Big Lots (517), and American Freight (328) made up the majority of the closures last year. Already this year, we’ve seen big shutdown news from brands like Party City (closing all 738 locations), Big Lots (plans to close another 601 stores), Walgreens (333 stores), 7-Eleven (148 stores) and Macy’s (51 stores) – all within just the first few weeks of January.
And, it turns out, even Amazon is prone to having to admit defeat in the world of in-person retail. The global brand has struggled to find footing with its Go convenience stores. This week, Amazon announced that a Go location in Woodland Hills, California, will shutter in February. In total, Amazon has seen its c-store count decrease by around 50 percent since it peaked early 2023.
Coresight Rersearch points to a number of factors for the expected increase in closures, namely inflation and the prevalence of online shopping.
“We continue to see a trend of consumers opting for the path of least resistance,” Coresight Research CEO Deborah Weinswig said, via Fast Company. “Not only do they want the best prices, but they also have no patience for stores that are constantly disorganized, out of stock, and that deliver poor customer service.”
The bad news on the big box front has resulted in some wins on the independent retail side of the business, to say the least. In addition to the expanded market share opportunity, we’ve seen retailers step up to quite literally fill the void left by some of the names you see above.
Take NMG Member Queen City, which recently secured seven former Badcock Home Furniture &more locations (part of the Conn’s business) in a deal that also helped many former Badcock employees who were otherwise out of work. The Charlotte-based family-owned business will capitalize on not only the expanded footprint, but the ability to expand its assortment beyond its traditional mix of appliances and into the home furnishings category. The stores will be rebranded as Queen City Homestores, which also marks the beginning of Queen City’s larger rebrand beyond the Audio Video & Appliances name.
“We found a common thread we like in our business: an extreme focus on customers. I felt comfortable that they would fit in our organization, too,” Queen City President and CEO Roddey Player recently told Furniture Today. “It’s not one and done with us. We expect to see our customers every couple or three years. With furniture coming on board, now it’s every year and a half or so. We’re a family business, and going back to its heritage, Badcock was a family business. We’re going to teach them the appliance business, and they’re going to teach us the furniture business. It will be a great enterprise once we get them all open. We’re excited about it.”
That excitement should extend to the broader independent retail community as big box continues to struggle, opening new doors for the channel.
