Good piece in Fast Company about the potentially fatal blow being delivered to the department store business by the pandemic. An excerpt:
"After a century and a half, the American department store appears to be headed toward the grave. These glittering emporia that once drew crowds with fashion shows, concerts, and lavish holiday windows are going out with whimper, not a bang—an apparent victim of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic."
It isn't a new problem. They have "been in declining health for a decade, as they became less relevant in the landscape of American life." But now, as they try to fight their way out of the pandemic crisis that closed their physical stores, most from a position of weakness, they are facing a potential death sentence.
"Analysts at Cowen say that Macy’s, Kohl’s, and J.C. Penney will only be able to withstand a few months of store closures before running out of cash and ending up in the same boat" as Neiman Marcus, "which is currently contemplating bankruptcy or a fire sale." And "Nordstrom may have about a year," analysts say.
You can read the entire story here.
