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Pier 1 Closing 450 Stores As Retail Apocalypse Drags Into New Decade

FORT WORTH, Texas (CBS Local) -- Pier 1 Imports is closing nearly half its 942 stores, adding to a staggering rate of store closures that rocked the retail industry over the past couple of years.

The home goods retailer said Monday it is closing up to 450 stores and will also shutter distribution centers. It didn't say where the store closures would occur, but it operates stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The Fort Worth-based company, which has been struggling for years against rising competition from online retailers and big-box rivals, didn't say how many workers will be impacted.

Pier 1 isn't the only casualty of shifting consumer habits in retail.

Retailers announced plans to close more than 9,300 stores in 2019 -- a nearly 60 percent jump from 2018, according to Coresight Research, and shattering the previous record of roughly 8,000 store closures in 2017, according to an analysis by Business Insider.

The discount shoe retailer Payless ShoeSource alone announced in February it would be closing all of its roughly 2,500 North American stores, up from the 2,100 it initially cited, in what The Wall Street Journal reported could be the largest retail liquidation in history.

Then in March, Charlotte Russe, Family Dollar, Abercrombie & Fitch and Chico's announced more than 1,100 closings over the course of 24 hours.

Sears, Kmart and Bed Bath & Beyond were among the retailers that also announced store closings in 2019.

Department stores and clothing brands are being hit especially hard despite a strong economy and consumers flush with cash.

"We did go to the mall for Christmas but I do Amazon. I work and I get home late and Amazon makes it very convenient to just go online and order and return what I need to," shopper Lu Spigelman of La Honda, California, told CBS San Francisco.

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