Retail Tsunami Growing

On the heels of Toys R Us closing all stores Aaron Brothers announced they would be closing all but three stores in Texas. Locally Aaron Bros. operates three stores on the Westside in Culver City, Santa Monica and Westwood. The Culver City Toys R Us location was one of the top stores in volume in the country.

Last year Radio Schack closed both stores in Culver City as the chain struggles through bankruptcy.

Macy's in the Westside Pavilion is currently liquidation their stock and will close that store soon. Nordstrom moved their store from Westside Pavilion to Century City last year leaving the mall without a major anchor store.

Portions of the mall will be converted to office space with approximately 500,000 square feet of office space while retaining 100,000 square feet of existing retail space.

One retail expert commented that we are only in the "second inning" of this retail disaster. He went on to say not only are shoppers flocking to the internet but added to that the Millennial generation do not enjoy shopping. He expects 25% of the 1100 malls in the United States to close within the next five years.

Described as the 2018 Tsunami an estimated 12,000 chain stores are expected to close, eclipsing by 30% the store closers in 2017.