Macy’s, jcp, Abercrombie, Office Depot, Aeropostale are some of the retailers reducing store counts
One thing that’s for certain in retail….change is a reality.
It’s the time of year when retailers announce their store-close plans for the coming year. Now that the holiday season is over, we’ve heard that many major retailers will be shuttering their stores including Office Depot (400 stores), Wet Seal (338), Deb Shops (300), Body Central (265), Staples (225), Barnes & Noble (223), Radio Shack (200), Abercrombie (180), and American Eagle (150).
Changing shopping habits by always-connected consumers along with competition from online shopping continue to challenge the traditional ‘brick and mortar’ model. For some retailers closing stores may reflect financial issues. For others, the monies saved by closing underperforming stores are used to fund other initiatives; or the store may in fact be relocating to a newer, fresher location.
Retooling the retail organization
Macy’s plans to use some of the monies saved from its store closures to help fund technology investments. In 2014 Macy’s announced its plans to invest up to $1 billion in technology and growth infrastructure to support online and omnichannel efforts including ‘click & collect’ as well as the chain wide rollout of a beacon-based solution to drive consumer engagement in-store.
Fast-fashion disrupts traditional apparel merchants
Fast-fashion retailers — Zara, Forever 21, H&M — bring trendy runway/street fashions to market quicker and cheaper than traditional, youth-focused, apparel merchants can. Hurt by declining demand and margins, once ‘must have’ retailers like Abercrombie, Aeropostale and American Eagle now look to shutter stores as a way to reduce costs.
Simplifying store closures
No matter what the reason, closing stores is a lot of work for retailers. Once the decision has been made, real estate and employee issues are addressed; the task is then to coordinate the actual logistics of the close. And what to do with the investments in retail technologies that were made? Or the thousands of technology devices (i.e. POS registers, printers, scanners, payment terminals, PCs, wireless, etc.) that will be taken out?
Some retailers use the services of liquidators whereas others may be more directly involved in many aspects themselves.
At Mainstreet, we think there’s a better way and we’ve proven it in partnership with retailers across the nation.
From onsite de-installation to equipment consolidation, inventorying, remarketing, refurbishment or secure e-disposal Mainstreet has the expertise to simplify store closings for retailers through personalized, responsive service programs.
“Because Mainstreet supports retail systems from most every manufacturer, both current and mature models, we know the value of the retail systems that retailers are de-installing and can ensure that they get the best price possible for those systems they want to sell. And with a worldwide network of clients, we’re not constrained by domestic market demand,” explains Terry Kasen, Mainstreet’s Vice President of Client Engagement. “Alternately if their plan is to keep some or all of those systems, we provide high quality refurbishment services so they can be returned to the retailer’s productive store systems inventory.”
If you’re a retailer reducing or relocating stores, simply email us at info@mainstreetinc.net so we begin discussing how we can make your job much easier. We’d love to hear from you.