Hurricane Amazon is back: Retail store closures surged in 2019

Major retailers announced record store closures in 2019, according to data gathered by research firm Coresight. This, like, totally has nothing to do with Jeff Bezos’  vast, incomprehensible wealth.

Sears, Forever 21, GNC, GameStop, and other chains collectively announced plans to shutter more than 9,300 brick and mortar stores this year. That’s a staggering upsurge from 2018, when 5,844 store closures were reported, and it tops the previous record year: 2017, when 8,069 closures were announced, according to data reported by CNBC.

The result of this trend, as Bezos metaphorically wipes blood and drywall dust from his hands, is the loss of around 75,000 jobs between January and November this year, according to research from reemployment firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. Women are disproportionately affected by disappearing jobs in retail, USA Today reports.

Other retailers that announced closures in 2019 include Sears and Kmart—which together will occupy about a quarter of the locations they operated earlier this year—and Payless, which has more or less bit the dust, but “IS STILL HERE!” according to a landing page on Payless.com. That landing page currently points visitors to (you might’ve guessed it) Amazon.