3 Retailers That Could Be Pulling a Copperfield

With every passing day, e-commerce retailers like Amazon.com, Inc.(AMZN) put more and more pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, the competition is so heated that Sears (SHLD), Office Depot(ODP) and Childrens Place (PLCE) are all closing a large number of stores in an attempt to stay in business.

Will these retailers pull a Copperfield and disappear entirely? Their prognosis certainly doesn’t look great.

Sears Holdings (SHLD)

sears logo shld stockLast month, SHLD announced that it will be closing another 10 Sears locations and 68 Kmart locations in 2016. While 78 stores in itself is not a huge number, this is far from the first wave of closings for SHLD. In fact, the retailer has been shedding locations for a decade now. Since 2006, SHLD has closed an incredible 379 Kmart locations and 1,289 Sears locations in the past 10 years.

Despite the aggressive efforts, things seem to be going from bad to worse for SHLD. In Q4, the company reported a net loss of $580 million, down from a loss of $159 million in Q4 2014.

“The decision to close stores is a difficult but necessary step as we take aggressive actions to strengthen our company, fund our transformation and restore Sears Holdings to profitability,” CEO Edward Lampert said of the newest closings.

Shareholders are desperate for the company to find a way to turn the corner. SHLD stock is down 92.5% in the past 10 years.

Office Depot (ODP)

Speaking of desperate, ODP is hoping…

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