Retail Armageddon Heats Up in Rhode Island — Dozens of Stores Close

Retail Armageddon Heats Up in Rhode Island — Dozens of Stores Close

Retailers are closing stores at a record pace and Rhode Island is getting hit hard.  In January, before many of the store closings had even been announced, Rhode Island lost 400 retail jobs for the month.

In the past few weeks — nearly every corner the state has been impacted. The closures over the past two years have been well-reported -- Benny's shuttered 31 stores, Nordstrom up and left Providence Place Mall and Swansea Mall will be no more at the end of March.

SEE COMPLETE LIST OF STORE CLOSINGS BELOW

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Announcements are now picking up in pace. Payless closed eight stores in Rhode Island — from Middletown to Woonsocket.

The Rite-Aid closed its Woonsocket Store this week — the store on Social Street had 15 full and part-time workers.

Charlotte Russe closed two stores — one at Providence Place Mall and the other the Warwick Mall.

Then, there are dozens of national retailers who have made announcements of thousands of store closings and the full impact to Rhode Island and Southern New England is not fully known.

Family Dollar has announced it will close hundreds of store in the U.S. but has yet to announce which of the 14 Rhode Island stores will be impacted.

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Recently, Ocean State Job Lot announced it would re-open three of the former Benny’s store locations to be new Job Lots -- 28 former Benny’s locations remain.

What is being done to minimize the impact?

Governor Gina Raimondo’s administration says that it is working to address the economic shift.

“The Raimondo administration has been working hard to help retailers and other Rhode Island-based businesses by: lowering the corporate minimum tax twice, lowering the unemployment insurance tax twice, eliminating the tax on energy for business, making state-financed small business loans available for the first time in memory,” said Brian Hodge, spokesperson for Commerce RI.

In addition, the administration says it has assisted by “establishing an easy-access small business helpline, trimming and eliminating red tape that gets in the way of retailers and other businesses, and investing in Main Streets across our cities and towns so that the front doors to our stores and small businesses are more welcoming to customers,” said Hodge.

Bright Side/Double Edge

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Some retailers are feasting on others' failures. As JCPenney continues to struggle and close stores, both Target and Kohl's are seeing growth and increased profits — much of it driven by a shift to and growth in online sales.

Target is reporting its best performance in a decade.

"As Americans do more of their shopping online, both retailers have been opening smaller stores and offering easier ways to pick up internet orders. They have also captured business as some traditional rivals close locations," wrote the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. 

For the quarter that ended on February 2, 2019, Target's comparable sales increased 5.3%, boosted by a 31% jump in online orders.

“It’s clear our strategy is working,” said Chief Executive Brian Cornell in an investor meeting on Tuesday. He said Target expects to increase traffic and grab more share in 2019.

“As the retail environment evolves across the country and indeed across the world, we will continue working to assist and strengthen the position of retailers and other businesses here in Rhode Island,” said Hodge.

SEE COMPLETE LIST OF STORE CLOSINGS BELOW