Department and Grocery Store Closures in 2020 – Store Closure Report

There has been a total of 551 department and grocery store closures in 2020. The state with most store closures is New York with 58 closures

How many Department and Grocery Stores have closed in 2020?

There have been a total of 551 department and grocery closures in the United States throughout 2020. The states with the most number of store closures in the US are New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California.

ScrapeHero Data Store monitors the location data of more than 130 department and grocery store brands in the USA. We found that 39 of those brands had to close stores in 2020.

Insights in Brief

  • There were 551 department and grocery store closures across 39 brands in 2020.
  • 7-Eleven (182) had the most number of store closures in 2020.
  • New York (58) was the state with the most number of store closures.
  • The county with the highest number of store closures was Cook County, Illinois (15).
  • New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California accounted for 23% of department and grocery store closures in 2020

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Download the complete list of store closures

You can download the complete list of department and grocery store closure locations as an Excel file, along with geocoded addresses, phone numbers, and providers from our data store.

Department and Grocery Store Closure Trend

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The visualization above shows an animated bar chart of store closures throughout 2020 by each store brand. We can see that while Save A Lot had the highest number of store closures for most of the year, 7-Eleven overtook it in September and went on to become the brand with the most number of closures in 2020.

Stores with the highest number of closures

The store with the highest number of store closures in 2020 is 7-Eleven with 182 store closures. Followed by are Save A Lot with 87 store closures and Macy’s with 36 store closures.

stores-with-highest-department-and-grocery-store-closures

The bar chart above shows the store brands with the highest number of store closures in 2020.

America’s stores were in rough shape even before the coronavirus hit, but the pandemic has worsened the toll on traditional retailers. Retailers are shrinking their physical presence because more of their business is now taking place online. Macy’s has been downsizing and said they would be closing down many of its stores situated in weak malls. In May 2020, Nordstrom announced it would file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and will close a few full-line department stores. Other chains such as Kroger have been closing stores to avoid new pay mandates that will increase labor costs.

Months with the highest Store Closures

In 2020, the months that had the most store closures were June (80), December (77), and July (62).

States with the most Department and Grocery Store Closures

The state with the most number of store closures for department and grocery chains in the US is New York with 58 store closures. Followed by New Jersey with 40 store closures and California and Florida with 38 store closures each.

The bar chart below shows the top 15 states with the most store closures in 2020:

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Together the states New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California account for 23% of the total department and grocery store closures in the US.

Out of the 39 department and grocery store brands that closed in 2020, 11 store brands closed in New York. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois had seen closures of 10 store brands each.

The bar chart below shows the store brands with the most closures in the top states – New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida.

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Among the states with the highest store closures, 7-Eleven has the most number of store closures.

Counties with Most Department and Grocery Store Closures

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Cook County in Illinois had the highest number of store closures (15). Two New York counties – Kings and New York, have 13 store closures each.

Cities with Most Department and Grocery Store Closures

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The chart above shows the top 5 cities with most closures. Brooklyn has the highest number of store closures, followed by New York City and Philadelphia. 

Even though no city from New Jersey had more than 5 store closures, the state had store closings in 33 cities. New York had store closings in only 23 cities.

Download this Dataset

ScrapeHero Data Store provides the location data of hundreds of brands spread across a variety of industries that include – Automotive, Healthcare, Fast Food, and more. You can subscribe to our store data plans and get datasets with data points such as store openings, store closures, parking availability, in-store pickup option, services, subsidiaries, nearest competitor stores, and much more.

Covid-19 Accelerated Store Closures

2020 saw a rash of retail store closings and bankruptcies, and 2021 looks like that trend will continue. The global coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the economy is still ongoing. Many retail stores, in particular, have been hit hard by the downturn. Modern-day retail is at an inflection point as retailers face struggling physical storefronts, massive debt, and inefficient operations, among other issues. The Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated the fall of several retailers, which have faced dwindling sales and growing debt over the past few years as consumer preferences change.

Department stores are at particular risk, with the pandemic felling iconic names such as Neiman Marcus and JCPenney. Malls saw declining foot traffic even pre-pandemic, but stay-at-home orders further shifted shoppers to online shopping and spending cash on essential goods instead. Even as retail stores have made the shift to online and curbside pickup to at least make it through the holiday season, 2021 could be on pace to break that record for store closing.

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