3,500 American Retail stores to close...

[Dizzy1]

Yes how true, get your job application for P/T work at Starbucks or Walmart....

If that is the limit of your professional aspirations - more power to you

[averagejoe]

Nike to Slash 1,400 Jobs, Cut Sneaker Styles in Shakeup
Company will focus more on sales online and in 12 key cities

http://www.newser.com/story/244353/nike ... akeup.html

[jimmy4321]

One thing i do envy of the US is their shipping, in Canada shipping costs is the biggest online turnoff for me most times.

People will take the path of least resistance. So if your not unique enough to entice local shoppers your days are probably numbered.

[averagejoe]

400 Burger Per Hour Robot Will Put Teenagers Out Of Work

Just a quick heads up, high school students. You might want to save your job application efforts for retail gigs, because the fast food space is about to be invaded by robots.

We already showed you an autonomous grillmaster that can monitor and flip an entire grill full of patties. Today’s bot is even more versatile. Not only can it cook the patty, but it can also dice up fresh toppings like tomatoes, pickles, and onions… and it can even deftly stack everything on a toasted bun.

This autonomous marvel was designed and built by Momentum Machines, who just wrapped up a successful funding round to the tune of $18 million. It’s pretty clear why they attracted so much cash.

Keeping a fast food joint fully-staffed can be tricky at the best of times. It can also be kind of expensive, and those pesky human employees can get injured on the job — which adds even more expense due to insurance and can really complicate scheduling.

Robots, on the other hand, will work and work and work as long as they’re properly maintained and allowed to function the way they were designed to function. Even a complex robot like this one that costs around $30,000 will pay for itself rather quickly.

Especially when it’s capable of churning out — sorry, skillfully crafting — up to 400 burgers to customers’ exact specifications every hour.

https://www.geek.com/tech/400-burger-pe ... k-1703546/

[averagejoe]

Great recession fears as bankers warn next global crash could arrive 'with a vengeance'

A new financial crisis is brewing in the emerging economies and it could hit “with a vengeance”, an influential group of central bankers has warned.

Emerging markets such as China are showing the same signs that their economies are overheating as the US and the UK demonstrated before the financial crisis of 2007-08, according to the annual report of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Claudio Borio, the head of the BIS monetary and economic department, said a new recession could come “with a vengeance” and “the end may come to resemble more closely a financial boom gone wrong”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 07811.html

[GordonH]

I've always said the economy is like a house of cards, it's not if it will fall down but when. Everything happens in cycles, the longer up cycle is the harder the down cycle will hit.

All anyone can do is ride it out, those who smartly put away for a rainy day/s (weeks,months... years. Will fair better then those who did not)

[averagejoe]

Reuters reports, Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) is closing eight of its namesake department stores and 35 Kmart locations to cut costs and square footage in an effort to return to profitability, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said on Friday.

http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-reta ... -huge-way/

[averagejoe]

Wal-Mart Replaces More Than 4,000 Employees With Machines

The Wall Street Journal published a headline today that should strike fear into the heart of every crusaders in the fight for $15: “Robots Are Replacing Workers Where You Shop.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/robots-are ... 1500456602

[GordonH]

Wal-Mart Replaces More Than 4,000 Employees With Machines

The Wall Street Journal published a headline today that should strike fear into the heart of every crusaders in the fight for $15: “Robots Are Replacing Workers Where You Shop.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/robots-are ... 1500456602

This is not going to stop, because in long term it lowers corporate bottom line & increases shareholder returns. To hell with the need of people having a paying job.

[Queen K]

I've never going through a self-check out. I've always maintained that they are killing real jobs and if proven used and successful will be adopted by many retailers.

It's a sad reality that jobs formerly held by young people, or people who need part time work are disappearing.

[averagejoe]

50% Of U.S. Shopping Malls expected to close by 2023

The end of an era is quickly approaching. According to this Guardian report, 50% of U.S. shopping malls are expected to close by 2023.

Twenty-five years ago this August, the Mall of America, America’s largest shopping mall, opened its many, many doors for business. The Minnesota mall is currently wrapping up a year of celebration at the dizzyingly vast temple to consumerism. It’s a celebration that comes, ironically, as America’s malls are dying. But not the Mall of America.

Once the epicenter of American retail, malls are in crisis. Pictures of dead malls, their hollow shells left like abandoned sets for a George Romero zombie movie, are rapidly replacing pictures of decaying Detroit as the go-to image for dystopia USA.

It has been three years since a major new shopping mall opened in the US, leading even some mall operators to speculate that the last one has already been built. Of the roughly 1,200 spread across the country, less than half are expected to be in operation five years from now.

http://www.thomasdishaw.com/50-of-u-s-s ... e-by-2023/

[averagejoe]

Starbucks to close ALL 379 Teavana stores

The company is closing all 379 Teavana retail stores, saying that they’re struggling and would likely continue doing so. Starbucks said sales for the quarter grew to $5.66 billion, up 8 percent from a year ago but still short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

http://www.govtslaves.com/starbucks-to- ... na-stores/

[Thinktank]

50% Of U.S. Shopping Malls expected to close by 2023

I needed two things. A lens cap which I lost and a 48mm clear filter to protect the lens.
I found out quickly that none of the stores have the lens cap in stock. You can buy a camera
from six or seven places but no lens caps.

And the filter - I checked one camera store that had some quality ones for thirty, sixty and eighty dollars.

So I bought lens cap AND filter (Chinese) from Amazon for $18.00 plus about $5.00 for shipping. That's when I realized
things are different now. The whole retail industry is different. If half the malls close up in the future,
it makes sense to me.

[Queen K]

Lease rates have to come down, which will depress REIT values.

It's a cascade of disaster incoming.

[averagejoe]

More than 6,300 stores are shutting down -- here's the full list




https://www.aol.com/article/finance/201 ... /23059979/