A retail slump has swept across America.

2019 has seen brick-and-mortar locations start disappearing at an alarming rate. The rise of eCommerce and online shopping has played the biggest role in the decline of physical retail locations.

The retail industry is looking at another rough year. As of the middle of March, approximately 5,300 stores are planning to close. As the year progresses, that number is expected to rise significantly. At the moment, almost half of the closings so far this year have been Payless, which filed for bankruptcy last month. Charlotte Russe, which also filed for bankruptcy in February, will close around 520 stores this year, while Gymboree will close 805 locations.

2018 was already a bad year for retail, as it saw a record 155 million feet of retail business space close down. For now, it would appear that eCommerce is the future of the retail industry. That being said, there is a lot of work to be done with eCommerce as well. eCommerce has produced much of the growth in the retail industry, but it also produces a much higher rate of returns.