Abercrombie has been methodically paring down its footprint for the better part of a decade. “Over the past eight years, we’ve gone from a peak of roughly 1,100 stores to 861 at year-end, including roughly 475 domestic store closures, leaving our current fleet well positioned in predominantly A and B malls,” Horowitz said.
It’s not that the company aims to shift over to e-commerce, which the Gap brand has done to a great extent. The Gap Inc. label plans to shutter 230 stores, and more heading into 2020. This week Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck said that any new Gap stores won’t be opening in malls.
The closures will add to a massive retreat in brick and mortar in coming months. Last year, retailers collectively announced 5,524 U.S. store closures, down 32% from the prior year when they peaked at 8,139, according to Coresight Research, which also predicted the number would be about the same this year. But that total is already quickly reaching the numbers of the past two years. Among others, Dollar Tree this week said it plans to close 390 Family Dollar stores in 2019, Chico’s will close 250 over the next three years, Shopko is closing at least 250 stores and Payless has begun the liquidation of a whopping 2,500 locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
