Even the good news in American retail is bringing bad news.
While major chains such as San Francisco-based Gap, JCPenney and Victoria's Secret announced hundreds of store closures over the past three days after reporting same-store sales declines for the fourth quarter, Foot Locker showed growth that was more than twice as robust as analysts had expected.
So what did Foot Locker do? It said it would shut down around 165 stores, of course.
In the wake of continuing bottom-line problems at JCPenney, which announced Thursday that it would close more than a dozen more stores this year, including the three closures announced in January, the news in chain-retail just keeps getting worse. Blame it on shoppers increasingly taking their business online. Here are some sobering news items and numbers:
_Gap said Thursday it would close 230 of its namesake stores over the next 48 months, according to a report in USA Today, while it spins off Old Navy as its own company;
_Old Navy stores have consistently done better than sister companies Gap and Banana Republic in terms of sales, the report says;
_The Gap closures will affect about 50 percent of its locations;
_And lingerie powerhouse Victoria's Secret will close the doors on 53 shops.
It's unclear where all these stores will be closing, including the Bay Area. A Victoria's Secret spokesperson told USA Today that the company isn't "releasing the list of affected locations but said the closings will occur over the next year and represent less than 5 percent of its worldwide store count." Foot Locker did not respond to a request for comment. Macy's, another chain affected by changing consumer shopping trends, announced in January that it will soon close its store in downtown Sunnyvale due to flagging sales.
Trina Somera, a spokeswoman for Gap Inc., told the Modesto Bee last week that "the company has not finalized its list of specific store closures yet. Another company representative said a full list would be available online once it's finalized. The company has around 800 retail stores in North America, Somera said."
Last Christmas, Gap said on Jan. 20 it would close its massive three-level outlet on Fifth Avenue in New York City � the store had been the chain's flagship company until 2017 when it was moved to the Times Square location.
And sitting smack dab in the middle of our retail apocalypse, JCPenney announced it, too, would shutter 18 of its department stores, though it's not clear whether any in the Bay Area would be among them. That has posed brutal challenges for retailers, especially department stores such as Macy's. Sears, Walmart and Kmart have also struggled due to online retailing.
"Following a comprehensive review by the Gap Inc. board of directors, it's clear that Old Navy's business model and customers have increasingly diverged from our specialty brands over time, and each company now requires a different strategy to thrive moving forward," Robert Fisher, Gap Inc.'s board chairman, said in a statement. "Recognizing that, we determined that pursuing a separation is the most compelling path forward for our brands."
However, Bob Phibbs, CEO of New York-based consultancy the Retail Doctor, thinks JCPenney will be forced to announce more closures down the road.
"It is mind-boggling that JCPenney still thinks they have time when the clock has run out and there's no real plan. Closing 18 stores is barely a drop in the bucket of JCPenney's more than 850 stores. If this was a big, bold effort to reinvigorate the brand, they would have announced they were closing hundreds of stores and investing in an outstanding experience at their other locations," Phibbs told FOX Business.
He added that JCPenney "still desperately" needs an inspiring vision for its brand as more and more customers head to Target, Walmart and Amazon.
In the overall bleak landscape of retail-chain pain, a Business Insider report said these latest announcements will bring the total number of planned stores closures this year to well over 4,500.
