Hard-hit retailers projected to shutter as many as 25,000 stores this year, mostly in malls

An estimated 3 in 5 of those closures will occur in shopping centers, research shows

By Rachel Siegel @ WashingtonPost.com

Consumers may be eager to hit their nearest reopened mall, but it could already be too late for many struggling retailers.

U.S. retailers will shutter 20,000 to 25,000 stores this year, according to projections released Tuesday by Coresight Research, with as much as 60 percent of those closures occurring in malls. That marks a sharp increase from the 15,000 forecast earlier this year and raises the stakes for a sector already in turmoil before the coronavirus pandemic catapulted the country into recession.

“Given that recovery to precrisis levels may be gradual, retailers that were struggling to stay in business precrisis are unlikely to have the wherewithal to stay the course on the road to recovery,” Coresight founder and CEO Deborah Weinswig said in the report [....]