Department stores struggle to make it through the pandemic

Nearly 200 department stores have been shuttered over the past year and another 800 are forecast for the same fate by the end of 2025, according to Green Street Advisors. “There’s nothing department stores have done to make themselves particularly relevant in the 21st century, and the pandemic has only made that more clear,” said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School and former CEO of Sears Canada.