More stores may close in 2017 than in the worst year of the Great Recession

(Image credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

published 3 May 2017

Roughly 2,880 retail stores in the U.S. have closed this year through April 6, putting 2017 on pace for more store closings than the worst year of the recession.

With e-commerce on the rise, brick-and-mortar retailers are suffering. Credit Suisse estimates that there could be 8,640 stores closing this year, based on past data that indicates that about 60 percent of store closings occur in the first five months of a year. If this prediction is accurate, more stores will close by the end of 2017 than the 6,200 that shuttered in 2008.