In towns already hit by steel mill closings, a new casualty: Retail jobs. America’s retailers are closing stores faster than ever. What in the world is causing the retail meltdown of 2017? In the middle of an economic recovery, hundreds of shops and malls are shuttering — the reasons why go far beyond Amazon. Get ready for the regional shopping mall apocalypse: Fragile ecosystems poorly suited to a changing world. Thread: “Don't think you can disentangle the lack of political attention to the demographics of this industry”. Fake working class: The muted response to the retail apocalypse shows which workers count in Trump’s America. Is American retail at a historic tipping point? From “zombie malls” to bonobos: What America’s retail transformation looks like.
