Dollar General and Aldi logos.
Reuters
The number of U.S. store openings is expected to increase this year compared to 2025 and the number of store closings to decrease, according to an analysis by Coresight Research, with value retailers driving growth as they continue to attract consumer dollars.
Overall, Coresight projects that U.S. retailers will close approximately 7,900 stores in 2026, a 4.5% year-over-year decline. This is the lowest number of store closures in the past three years.
The advisory group also expects retailers to open about 5,500 new stores, an increase of 4.4% from a year ago.
so far, dollar generalAldi and tractor supply According to Coresight, it topped the list of retailers with the most plans to open stores this year. on the other hand, game stopFrancesca’s and Walgreens lead the way with the most planned closures in 2026.
John Mercer, Coresight’s head of global research, said he expects several closely watched economic factors, including high inflation and a weak housing market, to ease gradually over the next year. He said the retailer’s real estate plans also reflected “gradual improvement through 2025, but not a major turning point.”
Several themes in the retail industry persist and appear in the data. Department stores and traditional retailers are reducing the number of stores. Value players such as discounters, warehouse clubs, and off-price chains are expanding their national footprint. A successful and reinvented mall retailer. Abercrombie & Fitch and gapcrowding out small specialty apparel retailers.
Several major store closures have already been announced in the first few weeks of this year. Video game retailer GameStop plans to close hundreds of stores, following a previous wave of significant closures. Francesca’s, a women’s fashion chain that sells clothing and accessories, will close approximately 460 stores as the business liquidates after filing for bankruptcy. and Amazon The e-commerce giant announced it would close all of its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores and convert some to Whole Foods Market stores, ending the e-commerce giant’s latest brick-and-mortar experiment in the grocery industry.
The number of store closures last year was expected to reach the highest level since the coronavirus pandemic. However, in the final count, the number of closed cases was 8,270, down from 8,825 in 2024 and 9,700 in 2020.
“There were a lot of unexpected things and a lot of unexpected things turned up,” Mercer said.
Among them, the tariff hikes did not hurt consumer spending as much as feared, as retailers imported early shipments and absorbed some of the higher costs. Wealthy Americans, benefiting from a strong stock market rally and rising real estate values, continue to spend, propping up the retail industry. They have been part of the flourishing so-called K-shaped economy.
Retail bankruptcies were a major factor in business downsizing last year, with 32 retailers filing for bankruptcy last year. Rite Aid, Joanne, Party City and Big Lots topped the list of stores that closed the most last year.
Other drugstores also contributed significantly to closings last year, including Walgreens and Walgreens. CVS Health Each of these companies is reducing the size of their stores.
On August 29, 2025, a sign is posted at a vacant Walgreens store in San Francisco announcing that the store is permanently closed.
Smith Collection/Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Two retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year. Saks Global, the parent company of luxury department stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. LKM Convenience is based in Louisiana and operates the convenience store brands Brothers Food Mart and Magnolia Express.
Shorter real estate supply
An expected slowdown in bankruptcies could tighten real estate demand, said Naveen Jaggi, president of retail advisory services at commercial real estate firm JLL, which operates primarily in large, fast-growing U.S. retail markets such as Chicago, New York and Dallas.
Many of the retailers opening stores in 2026 began their real estate deals in 2024, when companies like Bed Bath & Beyond, JoAnn and Forever 21 closed stores after filing for bankruptcy, leaving a ton of space vacant.
“We are looking at a world of diminishing supply,” he said. “That’s going to be a challenge in 2029 and 2030.”
Like the housing market, new shopping mall construction is slowing due to rising labor costs and rising interest rates. Jaggi said the tide could turn and developers could break ground on more if labor and borrowing costs stabilize and retailers show they are willing to pay enough for development.
Not only are retailers competing for space with their closest peers, he said, but they’re also competing for the same strip mall square footage as chains like Raising Cane, which are expanding their food and beverage concepts, as well as Pilates and fitness studios.
“Shopping centers that are growing and maturing prefer to bring in nationally known brands like SoulCycle,” Jaggi says. “You can pop out GameStop and pop in Soulcycle.”
As retailers open new stores and deploy artificial intelligence chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini to help customers find products and get shopping advice, it’s becoming difficult for retailers to think about what they can offer directly to customers, Coresight’s Mercer said.
He said that for brick-and-mortar stores to complement retailers’ e-commerce services, they must offer convenience and immediacy, offer ease of pick-up and returns, and offer enough compelling discounts to offset the downsides of in-person retail or become experiential destinations.
“Stores are great brand builders,” he said. “If you think about agency commerce, it’s great for comparison shopping. Stores are a great way to build that brand equity and remove yourself from price competition.”
