- Declining foot traffic and rising e-commerce have led thousands of stores to permanently close.
- Former household names like Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now just retail history.
- Here are 49 once-beloved stores that no longer have a meaningful brick-and-mortar presence.
Brick-and-mortar retail is a tough business.
One day, your favorite brand can be riding high and enjoying strong sales from loyal customers, while the next it’s fighting for survival and fending off creditors.
The only constant is change, especially as emerging trends, shopping patterns, and e-commerce players take larger pieces of the pie.
Here’s a look back at some of the retail brands whose stores once greeted thousands of people each day, but are now consigned to retail’s history books — or exist only online or as a tiny fraction of what they once were.