As we near our 9th month of the coronavirus pandemic, 43 retailers have filed for bankruptcy. Many of these companies were already in the beginning stages of bankruptcy or heading toward it before the pandemic started.
With less than 5 months left in the year, there have already been more retail bankruptcies this year than in the past 8 years.
The pandemic has exasperated challenges for some retailers that were already having trouble reaching new customers, such as J.C. Penney. Others, like Neiman Marcus, a luxury department store, were saddled with debt well before 2020.
More bankruptcy filings are expected. Jan Kniffen, a retail consultant for Macy’s, said that other retailers are also at risk, including J.Jill, Chico’s, Francesca’s, and Build-A-Bear.
According to Jan, “if you’re heavily indebted, if you’re mall-based, if you’re selling something people aren’t buying now because of Covid, and if you’re not an essential retailer, you’re at risk.”
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/03/with-pandemic-retail-bankruptcies-approach-highest-number-in-a-decade.html
