KCRag Forum

These big chains and others have closed stores in major US cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some of the country’s most prominent downtowns and business districts.

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers.

That means denser neighborhoods with a broader mix of affordable housing, experiential retail, restaurants, entertainment, parks and other amenities, which won’t happen overnight.

“Once [these cities] become true urban neighborhoods, then you will find retailing start to come back in different ways and forms,” said Terry Shook, a founding partner at consulting firm Shook Kelly.
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“The logic of big box retail, period, is much weaker than it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago,” said David Dixon, an urban places fellow at Stantec, a global design firm.

For example, Walmart has shuttered about 40 stores since 2021 and will close 20 this year. Nordstrom will shut down 15 locations in 2023.
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There’s no easy fix to slow the exodus of retail chains from cities.

Replacing a Nordstrom with another department store, or swapping out a CVS for a different drug store chain, is unlikely to be sustainable, experts say.

“It’s a really tough problem for cities and economic developers,” said Chris Wheat, the president of the JPMorgan Chase Institute. “How do you make these live, work and play neighborhoods? That was a question before the pandemic, but it’s become more salient now.”
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The density of housing that will replace some office and commercial spaces matters, said David Dixon from Stantec. People want to shop just minutes from their homes, and a critical mass of housing is needed to sustain surrounding retailers.

“A vibrant downtown, full of housing, can bring its streets to life,” he said. “It’s a much larger story than the fate of retailers themselves.”