Retail Giants Closing Several Stores Nationwide

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It’s been a tough time lately for several retail giants. Many have announced store closures and bankruptcies nationwide.

“These department stores, are having to kind of having to shift their way of thinking, and shift their business model, because consumers are changing the way that they shop” says Melissa Warnke with the Alabama Retail Association. She adds that as more people are turning to online and other methods of shopping it seems that department stores just cant keep up.

She says “we’ve seen a lot of big announcements over the past few years about department stores shutting down lots of locations” Department Stores, like Sears at Eastdale mall that closed its doors last June. It is now becoming the new location for an “At Home” store.

David Hagood, General Manager at Eastdale Mall says that “We’re blessed to have at home in this space in such a short period of time”.  Hagood adds that the mall tries its best to be proactive about store closings. He says “Our corporate leasing department is always looking for new stores to potentially bring in to the mall should a store ever close here”.

While the mall can’t compete with the convenience of online shopping,  Hagood says that they try to provide shoppers with an experience, with attractions such as the ice rink, or carousel or several events that they plan throughout the year;”or the the fact that you can come in to the store and touch it and feel it and that part of it, I think that’s what keeps people coming out to the mall”.

Warnke says that the state has made strides to level the playing field between stores and online only sellers with the simplified sellers use tax, Online shoppers now have to work a little harder to escape state and local sales taxes from sites like Amazon. She says that the state has received several million dollars since the tax has been in place.