National Retailers Are Abandoning Small Town, USA
Jarred Schenke
JASPER, Ala. — David Gifford, a preacher from Hamilton, Alabama (population: 6,800), drives nearly an hour to Jasper (population: 14,000) to shop at the JCPenney at the mall here in the northern part of the state.
As he saunters through the men's department, the 6-foot-3-inch, heavy-set Gifford cuts an imposing figure. But the leader of the Detroit Church of God in Detroit, Alabama (population: 237) is jovial, open and happy to chat.
In his hometown, there is a Walmart and a Dollar General. You can buy clothes at Walmart, sure, but while they are cheap, the retailer lacks selection. That is why Gifford hops in his used Town & Country and travels 50 miles east to shop at the Jasper Mall JCPenney to stock up on clothes for his family.
He is supporting a stay-at-home mom and two children on his $70K church salary. To save money, Gifford shops the clearance rack and uses loyalty points for out-of-season clothes big enough for his kids to grow into when the calendar comes back around.
But come this summer, JCPenney will be no more in Jasper. It is among the more than 130 locations that J.C. Penney, its parent company, is shuttering as it struggles in the current retail environment, which is becoming a slaughterhouse.
Since the start of the new year, the retail market has undergone a seismic shift. Bankruptcies have skyrocketed to levels that have surpassed even the Great Recession, and it appears every week another retailer has announced a mass of store closings. In the past year, more than a
dozen retailers have announced widespread store closures, including anchors like JCPenney, Macy's with 68 stores, Sears with 42 stores, Kmart (parent company of Sears) with more than 100 stores and HHGregg, which is liquidating all 220 of its stores.
“J.C. Penney owns a lot of stores where nobody lives," CoStar director of retail research Suzanne Mulvee said at a recent Bisnow event. "So these stores should close, and they will continue to close."
The thousands of people who live in and around Jasper, and the millions who live in small towns like it all over the country, would disagree. But there is no disputing the impact these closures are having on rural shoppers.
“This mall's going to be dead after this,” Gifford said as he browsed through clothes for his son. “When this one closes, it'll be Birmingham or it'll be Tupelo, [Mississippi]” to shop at the next closest JCPenney, 90 miles away.”
While store closings are spread among urban and tertiary markets, many of these retailers have closed locations in smaller towns throughout the U.S. — community names like Pineville, North Carolina; Oveido, Florida; Harper Woods, Michigan; Milledgeville, Georgia; Decorah, Iowa; and Chanute, Kansas. Places similar to these have populations far lower than in major urban centers and communities where demographics and populations have sometimes remained stagnant, or maybe even fallen over time.
This dynamic has been demonstrated in recent years in Georgia. While urban areas of the state like Atlanta have seen a 4% growth in businesses, including retailers, rural parts of the state have lost 2%. Of the 159 counties in Georgia, 103 have seen more businesses close than open in the last six years, Georgia Chamber of Commerce CEO Chris Clark said.
“That's dramatic,” Clark said.
There are plenty of reasons for the retail Armageddon; the proliferation of online shopping, changing shopper habits, Millennials who would rather spend on experiences than goods. All those factors are hitting brick-and-mortar retailers across the country.