# Are department stores going to die?

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2013-10-10

america, department-stores, economic-recovery, financial-crisis, housing-crisis, retail, uncategorized, usa, warehouse-clubs

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Here’s an interesting [graph I found on Businessweek](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/interactive-graphic-the-far-ranging-retail-slump) that outlines retail sales growth in America over the past decade:

What’s interesting is not that furniture stores suffered during the housing crisis of 2008-2009 - this much is obvious - but that there seems to be a few other trends at work.

For one, warehouse club sales have gone from being the highest growth to the slowest growth sector (excluding, for a second, department stores). The urbanist in me wonders if this has to do with “[The Great Inversion](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/60351065633/is-outer-city-the-new-inner-city).” That is, the trend towards more and more young people choosing to live in inner city neighbourhoods - where warehouse club penetration is low - as opposed to the suburbs.

The other notable sector is department stores. It’s the only sector that seemingly hasn’t been able to rebound along with the rest of the economy. I think this points to another larger trend at play: there are [structural problems with the department store model](http://www.businessinsider.com/department-store-decline-2013-8). They’ve been beaten up by [category killers](http://www.cio.com/article/14760/The_Decline_of_the_Department_Store), the internet and the fact that individual retailers seem to want to manage their own brands and experiences from top to bottom.

I know that for me, personally, I rarely shop at department stores. What about you?

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/are-department-stores-going-to-die)*