A Total of 44 Retailers Have Already Filed for Bankruptcy This Year and Many Others are Expected to Follow
EXCERPT: ADVERTISER NEWS | MONDAY AUGUST 24, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is upending the way U.S. consumers shop and the holidays will be no exception as major retailers and shippers roll out their earliest-ever shopping season. Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s have moved winter holiday promotions up to as early as October. They also joined rival Walmart in announcing store closures on Thanksgiving and plans to bypass the midnight Black Friday door-buster sales that traditionally mark the start of the holiday season but are incompatible with the pandemic’s social distancing recommendations.
DoorDash customers of Hy-Vee, Meijer, Smart & Final and other grocery retailers will soon be able to place orders for same-day delivery to their homes. The delivery service plans to roll out the service nationwide with initial markets in California and the Midwest. The same “Dashers” used to make restaurant deliveries will also be handling those placed at grocery stores.
A total of 44 retailers have already filed for bankruptcy this year and many others are expected to follow as the first wave of coronavirus pandemic persists with few signs it will go away before the expected second wave in the late fall and early winter months. “The pipeline is as full as it has been all year,” said Bradley Snyder, an executive managing director at Tiger Capital Group, a liquidation management firm. “The challenge is making sure we can actually close stores in a window that is open,” he added… TJX Cos, the parent company of Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and other discount retail chains, expects declines of 10% to 20% in the current quarter as the novel coronavirus virus continues to impact store operations and the willingness of consumers to shops its racks and shelves for deals.
The company, which has eschewed digital sales, has been at a disadvantage reaching consumers who only have the option of shopping in its chain’s stores… Ross Stores, which operates the Ross Dress for Less and DD’s Discounts chains, reported that same- store sales were down 12% in Q2 compared to the same period in 2019. The company reported that sales were above expectations as it began reopening locations in May but that inventory has been depleted and it is in the process of trying to sort the situation out
Lord & Taylor is closing 24 of its 38 stores across the U.S. and beginning going out of business sales at those locations. The department store retailer, which struggled prior to the coronavirus pandemic, has been hard hit as the outbreak forced store closures and online sales were not enough to offset the losses in traffic… Amazon has announced that it will open 11 facilities in the Phoenix metropolitan area and create 3,000 jobs there by year’s end. Over 1,000 jobs will be at the planned 855,000-square-foot Goodyear robots working side by side. Amazon plans to open 10 new sites across metro Phoenix, including six “delivery stations,” which will utilize a third party to deliver packages, groceries and restaurant orders as part of Amazon’s “Last Mile” drive.
