Retail has certainly had a challenging year. However, at least in terms of bankruptcy filings, 2020 has not been (and is not likely to be) the 'worst year ever'. The number of retail bankruptcies in the both the US and UK due to the Global Financial Crisis (2008) and the Great Recession (2008-2011) exceeded what we are likley to see this year. The number of retail failures is different than the number of stores that have closed since one retailer can have many stores. This makes the total number of 'store closings' seem higher. For example, in 2019 Payless ShoeSource (USA) filed for Chapter 11 and closed all of its roughly 2,100 stores. Those 2,100 stores accounted for about 22.5 percent of the roughly 9,300 stores that closed during the year. The closure of 1,100 Chico's stores accounted for about 11 percent of total closures. Thus combined, Payless and Chico's accounted for 33.5 percent of all closures. The raw data doesn't necessarily reflect other things happening in the retail landscape. <img src="https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies-1024x537.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies-1024x537.jpg 1024w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies-300x157.jpg 300w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies-768x403.jpg 768w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies-750x393.jpg 750w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/US-decade-bankruptcies.jpg 1140w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" width="1024" height="537"> <img src="https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies-1024x537.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies-1024x537.jpg 1024w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies-300x157.jpg 300w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies-768x403.jpg 768w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies-750x393.jpg 750w, https://insidefashionlive.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UK-decade-bankruptcies.jpg 1140w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" width="1024" height="537"> In 2019, for every retailer that's closed stores, 5.2 are opening new locations, according to the Retail's Renaissance —True Story of Store Openings/Closings" report from IHL Group. That pattern holds true across the board: There are more companies opening stores than closing them in all retail segments -- even department stores, according financial analysts at The Motley Fool. Older brands are getting smaller or even folding, but new brands are entering the market and growing. There's also the entry of international brands into countries where they previously didn't have any physical retail presence. <h3><strong>The Key Thing That's Changed - and it's for the Better</strong></h3> Retailers are thinking more carefully before opening new stores. We went through over a decade of driving topline growth through opening more stores, increasingly as the expense of the bottom line. There is still a demand for physical stores - whether it be as part of new digital-2-physical models or to provide consumerse with brand experience. However, there is not an unlimited demand. Retailers will need to strategically manage their retail portfolios. Store closings make headline news, but they are not necessarily an indication of failure. Increasingly, store closures are a sign that retailers are looking at store performance pruning some of the branches so that the company can make its remaining stores stronger. <h3><strong>A Winning Strategy for a New Decade</strong></h3> The strongest retailers are investing in both e-commerce and physical retail. What they're doing differently is to create a smaller number of world class flagships in strategic markets. Then they are supporting them with small retail concept stores in secondary markets. Overall, the number of stores will be fewer, but the quality of each store will be better. And the contribution of each store to the topline, bottom line and brand image will also have to be justified. In the midst of the pandemic, Nike, Inditex and Uniqlo have announced long term strategies to do this. Their newly opened stores show exactly what they are doing. This will be the retail road map that more brands will need to follow in order to thrive in the coming decade.