A former department store executive predicts a third of America’s malls are going to shut permanently by 2021, as their demise is accelerated due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jan Kniffen, a current retail consultant and former exec at The May Department Stores, which eventually folded into Macy’s said, “The mall has been losing ground for a long time, now it’s losing ground faster."
Kniffen told CNBC Wednesday, “I expect we are going to see at least 20% of the [inside of the] mall go. I expect to see a third of the malls go a lot sooner than we thought,” he added
There are still about 1,000 malls operating in the U.S. today, according to commercial real estate services firm Green Street Advisors.
More: CNBC.COM