Department stores are bleeding customers, and landlords no longer view them as magnets for shoppers, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Discount retailers are underpricing them, while specialty stores are outmaneuvering them. And luxury brands are sometimes bypassing them to open their own shops.
Surviving operators, however, are making big moves in hopes of turning things around.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s parent company is buying rival Neiman Marcus, while Nordstrom executives are exploring taking the company private. Macy’s new chief executive is closing stores while trying to improve the shopping experience at its leaner fleet.
But as WSJ writes, department stores’ long-term decline will be difficult to reverse. Their sales peaked just before the turn of the century and have been on a downward trajectory ever since, according to U.S. census data.
