| COVID-19 did not create the so-called retail apocalypse. More than 9,300 U.S. stores closed in 2019, and over 5,800 did the year before that, according to tracking by Coresight Research. A timeline by business analytics firm CB Insights dates the apocalypse to at least 2015.
But the pandemic has been its most swiftly destructive horseman. Following years that saw major retailers swapping hands in debt-bingeing buyouts while consumers shifted from shopping malls to shopping online, the mass shutdown of 2020 pushed some of America’s most iconic brands to the brink.
The pandemic brought a parade of headline-making Chapter 11 filings, with…
