Among them: Radio Shack (which closed 1,470 stores), Toys R Us (735 stores), and Mattress Firm and GNC (700 stores each). Analysts said the closures would affect a broad variety of retailers, affecting an estimated 21,000 apparel stores, 10,000 consumer electronics stores and 8,000 home furnishing stores. Sears, which has closed 1,300 Kmart and Sears stores since 2013, is scrapping an additional 80 locations. Among them: Radio Shack (which closed 1,470 stores), Toys R Us (735 stores), and Mattress Firm and GNC (700 stores each). After a decade of steady retail closures — enough to coin the term “retail apocalypse” — analysts said in-store sales ticked up in 2018, in part because of tax cuts for some Americans.

Source: Washington Post April 10, 2019 11:15 UTC