Retailers such as Foot Locker, Aldi, Burlington, and Bath & Body Works are leading the pack when it comes to brick-and-mortar growth. According to Coresight Research, there have been 4,602 store openings so far in 2021. Despite the pandemic, retail store openings surpassed closures for a majority of the year.
Stores have become innovative with their retail spaces in order to stay afloat, turning locations into hubs for deliveries, adding experiential elements or creating partnerships to open mini shops inside shops.
“We did see enough of life coming back to normal [summer 2020] that gave us the sense that people are pretty set in their habits, people are going to go back to shopping malls,” said Kenny Minzberg of menswear retailer Psycho Bunny.
In an effort to keep workers, many retailers pushed up wages faster than expected. Best Buy and Kay Jewelers, for example, raised starting pay to $15 an hour. In June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed average hourly pay of nonmanagers in retail reaching $18.62. For grocery store staff specifically, average pay was lower at $14.92 an hour.
Source: Retail Trends – NPR
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