12 department stores that imploded before the retail apocalypse even began to rage
Keeping a department-store chain afloat can be tricky.
Dozens of regional and national chains have collapsed over the years, even before the retail apocalypse got started.
Check out these companies that have succumbed to changing tastes, the advent of shopping malls, poor business practices, and tough luck.
Retail can be a merciless business.
Take department stores, for instance. A quick scan of any list of defunct department-store chains reveals that it's a business that doesn't take kindly to mistakes — or even just plain old bad luck.
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The retail apocalypse began roughly around 2008, around the time the recession kicked off. But the history of retail is littered with department-store chains that sunk long before that.
Here's a list of department store chains that went under — or fell into an irreversible decline — before the retail apocalypse began raging:
