The 2010's may not have been the death of Brick and Mortar retail, but the decade had definitely changed consumers shopping habits. Online shopping has become a normal part of consumption, with the global online shipping market size being predicted to hit four trillion in 2020. According to statistics from Optinmonster the U.S. is expected to have 300 million online shoppers in 2023. The changing in market habits has not only strengthen those who have made a strong e-commerce presence globally, but has also left many behind that failed to adapt.
Below is a list of five major brick and mortar stocks that failed from 2010-2019:
Blockbuster: One of the infamous deaths of the past decade was that of Blockbuster. The movie rental store's death seemed to be directly influence from the rise of Netflix
Fred's: The midwest discount store Fred's was mostly known as a pharmacy. The death of the company seemed to be inevitable once consumer giants like Target
RadioShack: Before major stocks like Best Buy
Sears: Starting in 1893 as a mail order catalog, Sears was once the largest retailer in the U.S., offering consumers a wide range of products from clothing to appliances. The company started to meet its end with its 2005 merger with Kmart. The company had already began its decline in 1990, when Walmart and Kmart surpassed it in sales. Sear's demise in the 2010s was the fault of mismanagement. Former CEO Eddie Lampert had badly under-invested in stores following the company's merger with Kmart, while similar stores like Target and Walmart did the complete opposite, enhancing their brick and mortar stores to attract consumers. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018.
The Borders Group: The Borders Group, was an international book and music retailer that was founded in 1992. As consumers moved more toward online purchases, the company began running into money issues. The final year the company had made a profit was in 2006. From there, Borders was on a downward trend of yearly income dropping by $1 billion over the next four years. The company's fatal decision came from the marking alliance with Amazon in 2007, rather than creating their own competitor to the online book store. Border's then created an e-book store in 2010, but it was already too late, for consumers had identified more with Amazon as the online destination for books. Borders declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011.
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blockbusters-death-was-long-foretold/
- https://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/09/21/is-hollywood-going-down-with-the-blockbuster-ship/
- https://fortune.com/2017/03/08/radioshack-bankrupt-chapter-11/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/12/radioshack-dont-buy-our-stock-its-worthless.html
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-sears-officially-cease-exist-145752499.html
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-30/a-guerrilla-stock-analyst-plays-mystery-shopper-at-sears