» Retail apocalypse: 3,500 stores to close in 2017
One store at the Waterstone Center in Mason has already closed, and another store next to the University of Cincinnati in the U Square @ The Loop development is set to close. A third store at the Bridgewater Falls development in Hamilton will also close.
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The retailer has stores in Dayton, Beavercreek, Huber Heights, Piqua and Springfield. According to the retailer’s website, none of those stores are currently impacted.
Major retailers across the country have taken a hit as consumers shift their spending habits online in the age of e-commerce. In Ohio, at least 80 retail brick-and-mortar stores are set for closure, forcing thousands to look for new jobs.
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Some closures started as early as late December, but most closures were announced in January at the end of the fiscal quarter. Then, a barrage of other store closures followed in the coming months. The impact of the closures is far-ranging, impacting the job market and retail destinations in Dayton, Springfield and Northern Cincinnati.
“When you’re talking about sales that go to online-only retailers that don’t have presence here, that’s a shift in consumer demand,” said Gordon Gough, president and CEO of the Ohio Council for Retail Merchants. “Will it have an impact on the local economies? Sure.”
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