There have been numerous reports about the change in consumer shopping preferences in the U.S., and the implications this holds for the shopping mall concept and the full-line department store as a retail anchor. There are currently just under 6,000 full-line department stores in the U.S., but a report by Coresight Research https://www.fungglobalretailtech.com/ predicts that this number will decline by 1,100 to 1,200 by 2023 due to store closings, a drop of about 18 percent to 20 percent.

The report said the forecast is based, in part, on the likelihood that “total closures will be driven by the very weakest retailers rather than reflecting across-the-board downsizings.” There also is an indication that midmarket chains, some of which already have closed stores, “will close some additional locations.”

On the plus side, however, Coresight expects there to be “a very limited number of openings among higher-end retailers that have been growing their store estates modestly.”

In addition, the report noted that some “department store retailers such as Macy’s place a greater emphasis on the quality of the shopping experience to sustain traffic, and this implies that we could see the department store sector focus on better-invested, higher-quality and probably smaller stores in higher-traffic locations in the next few years.”

To read more of the Coresight Research report on the future of the U.S. shopping mall, click here.