Big Retailers Will Close 7,000 Stores In 2018

In 2017, retailers in the United States announced plans to shutter close to 7,000 stores, a whopping 224 percent increase in announced store closures compared to 2016. The numbers were compiled by the think tank Fung Global Retail & Tech, which tracks store openings and closures in the U.S.

According to the numbers compiled by Fung Global, there have been 6,885 announced store closures in 2017 and 3,443 announced store openings. In 2016, there were 2,122 announced store closures in 2016 and 2,294 announced store openings.

Looking ahead to 2018, major retailers from various industries have already announced plans to close stores in the U.S. starting as early as January 2018.

Patch has compiled a list of retailers that have announced plans to close locations in 2018 below:

Macy's

Macy's is closing three of its California stores in early 2018. Macy's closed two Washington stores in 2017: Kelso and Everett Mall.

Sears

Sears Holdings announced in November that it would be closing another batch of stores 2018. As part of the closures, Sears said it informed associates at 45 Kmarts and 18 Sears that the stores would be closing in late January 2018. The Chico location was among the first round of closures and the Kmart stores in Manteca and Blythe were on the list of those to be shuttered. You can see a full list of the stores closing here, but none are in Washington.

Gap

In September, Gap announced it would be closing approximately 200 "underperforming" Gap and Banana Republic stores in the near future. The list of stores to be closed has not yet been released.

J. Crew

The specialty retailer plans to close 39 stores by the end of January 2018, CNN Money reported. That amounts to about 6 percent of its total stores and is double the number of stores it previously planned on closing.

Teavana

Starbucks announced in July that it will close its close to 400 Teavana stores by next year. Starbucks said the majority of the Teavana stores will close by Spring 2018.

• Goodbye, Teavana: Starbucks To Close 379 Tea Stores

Walgreens

Walgreens will close about 600 drugstores as it buys 1,932 stores from its competitor Rite Aid, the Associated Press reported. A company spokesman told the AP that the majority of closures will be Rite Aid and a vast majority of stores closing will be within a mile of another store in the Walgreens network. Walgreens did not say which locations would be closed but the closures will start next spring.

Other stories you might be interested in:

• Bellevue Whole Foods 360 Forced To Reopen
  
• Costco Membership Fee Increase: How Much More You'll Pay
  

Caption: This Friday, Dec. 13, 2013 photo shows a view of a Macy's flagship store in New York. Macy’s Inc. has closed stores because of winter storms in 2014. At one point during January, about 30 percent of its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores were closed.

Photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press