Foot Locker is the latest in a long line of retailers drastically reducing their store counts and slashing underperforming locations to cut costs, according to Business Insider reports.
Those closures will be somewhat balanced out by approximately 40 high-profile store openings, with the goal of the closures to limit the company’s exposure to malls that are no longer able to draw foot traffic. The new stores will be part and parcel with the brand’s attempt to reboot its business around a more contemporary image.
A recent round of closures left 147 locations shuttered in 2017, a much more evenly balanced run as Foot Locker also opened 94 new stores that year.
All in, Foot Locker currently holds approximately 3,310 locations nationwide.
The good locker closures are of apiece with a recent trend in the retail landscape.
Toys “R” Us recently announced the closure of 200 stores as part of its attempts to restructure its way out of bankruptcy and following a disastrous holiday season.
As we have shared publicly, our focus is on the reinvention of our business and emergence from chapter 11,” Amy von Walter told WSJ. “Decisions about our future store footprint and organizational structure will be based on needs of the new business model and so it would be premature for me to comment on that.”
Macy’s also recently announced another round of mass store closures
“Macy’s, Inc. has been reviewing its real estate portfolio across the country to see if there are opportunities to improve the use of our assets,” Macy’s told the newswire.
H&M and JCPenney have also announced closure plans that will run throughout the year.
Physical stores trimmed their ranks by 7,000 last year — a 20-year high and a 229 percent increase year over year.
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