Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores Openings and Closings
January 24,
2020 by Laurie Northington in General 
In what’s considered by many as the ‘Retail Apocalypse,’ retail store closings in 2019 are on pace to exceed closings in 2018. According to a report from investment banking firm UBS, an estimated 75,000 stores that sell clothing, electronics and furniture will close by 2026.
This is the third factoid in a series of five factoids that studies a March 2019 report from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Business, shining the light on challenges furniture and home furnishings stores have faced over the last 10+ years and continue to face going forward.
Although hit hard by the Great Recession, furniture and home furnishings stores had a surge in new store openings from 2011 to 2012. New furniture store openings jumped by 64.6%, while new home furnishings store openings increased by 20.9%. Unfortunately, 2012 saw the highest number of new furniture and home furnishings store closings. Furniture store closings skyrocketed 75.6%, while home furnishings store closing increased by 33.8%.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses, Business Information Tracking Series