RI “Cheat Sheet” — Store Closing Apocalypse Faster Than Expected, Providence Gets Low Scores
GoLocalProv Business Team
RI “Cheat Sheet” — Store Closing Apocalypse Faster Than Expected, Providence Gets Low Scores
The weekly feature focuses on important and interesting numbers, data, and high-value factoids that impact Rhode Island and the economy.
1) Announced Retail Store Closings in 2019 Has Already Exceeded 2018
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe latest retailer to make a big announcement about store closings -- Bed Bath & Beyond. On Friday, the retailer announced that they would close 40 stores around the country.
Coresight Research reported that U.S. store closings in 2019 to date have exceeded store closings in all of 2018.
"In the US, year-to-date announced closures have exceeded the total we recorded for the full year 2018. So far this year, US retailers have announced 5,994 store closures and 2,641 store openings. This compares to 5,864 closures and 3,239 openings for the full year 2018," reported Coresight.
Want to see the impact? Swansea Mall goes up for auction on Monday. Or, just alk by the Providence Place Mall where half the street level spots are vacant -- remember Joe's American Bar & Grill? Fire and Ice?
2) Providence -- #91 in Best Places to Live.
Providence didn’t exactly ring the bell in the annual study by U.S. News and World Reports. The news magazine “analyzed 125 metro areas in the United States to find the best places to live based on the quality of life and the job market in each metro area, as well as the value of living there and people's desire to live there.”
No surprise, Providence got good points for arts and restaurants. Ranked poorly for affordability and housing costs.
Zumper, the real estate research group, says that Providence ranks 79th for pet friendliness.
"We wanted to find the top cities to rent with your furry friends. Taking into consideration our user behaviors, like how many people are searching with the pet-friendly filter, the number of vets and parks per capita, and the density of pet-friendly listings per city, we were able to create a national ranking of the best cities to rent with pets,” wrote Zumper.
Why did Providence rank poorly — affordability. See the trend.