The Chicago Sun-Timesreports that analysts expect an avalanche of bookstore closings this year. A new report by Grant Thornton report says 10,000 retail stores will have closed by the end of 2009. Of that number, 400 will be bookstores, which is a 500% increase in bookstore closings since last year. Bookstores are just part of the ugly retail picture, as consumers have put the brakes on spending.
As many as 10,000 retail stores will close nationwide this year, led by clothing stores, electronics and food-and-beverage stores, and department stores, in that order, a study released Tuesday shows.
If the forecast holds, the store closings this year will be nearly double that of last year, when store closings stood at 5,100, said Sandra Reese, a principal at Grant Thornton LLP's offices in Chicago. Last year, the biggest store closings occurred in electronics, followed by home improvement-furnishings stores and in third place, apparel stores.
"It's been amazing to me how, in conversations, everyone from the low-end to the high-end shopper is cutting back on spending and not spending on lavish purchases," Reese said.
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Though bookstores represented only a fraction of the total, their closings are forecast to jump 500 percent from last year, to 400 stores.
As consumers cut back on entertainment purchases, books sales continue to decline. But it's not that people aren't reading. Library attendance is way up, according to overworked and underpaid librarians.
