Retail, Big Red Car? You going shopping?

No, the Big Red Car doesn’t shop, y’all. The Big Red Car does Amazon and the BRC is part of the problem. The problem being the wholesale remaking of the face of retail in the United States, particularly brick & mortar retail.

Let me ‘splain it to y’all.

First, there are a lot of stores closing.

Who, Big Red Car? Who’s closing? Tell me.

Here is a partial list:

 1. Sears/KMart — 293 stores
2. JC Penney — 138 stores
3. Macy’s — 68
4. Ascena Retail Group — 268 stores with another 667 being evaluated (Ann Taylor, Loft, Dress Barn, Lane Bryant, Justice)
5. Gymboree — 450
6. Michael Kors — 125
7. Payless Shoes — 512+
8. bebe — 180
9. Rue21 — 400
10. Radio Shack — 1,000 (old news)
11. Guess — 60
12. Crocs — 160
13. The Limited 250
14. Wet Seal — 171
15. American Apparel — 110
16. BCBG — 120
17. Gander Mountain — in bankruptcy, maybe all 126 stores
18. hhgregg — 220
19. Gamestop — 150
20. Staples — 70
21. CVS — 70
22., Whole Foods — 9 (including a store in Boulder, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico — say it ain’t so, Joe! Not Boulder!)

As you can see, that is a lot of damn stores. It is a tsunami of store closings.

Amazon

Meanwhile, Amazon’s sales revenue has more than doubled in the last five years from $61,000,000,000 to $136,000,000,000. Not all of that is retail. But a lot of it is.

So, dear friend, there you have it. The brick & mortar retailer is struggling while A’zon is doing well.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car — there’s going to be some interesting real estate plays out there with the empty Sears, Kmart, Gander Mountain, Staples big boxes becoming available. If I were a county government, I’d be on those opportunities.