US retail giant Sears files for bankruptcy

[Berlin Expat]

22. I have to agree

that JC Pennys is probably the next to go; they've been struggling for quite awhile now.

I thought Target was doing pretty well, to be honest.

A lot of this seems to be part and parcel of the retail apocalypse, which began around 2010 or thereabouts - seems like suburban shopping malls are becoming dinosaurs, victims of the Great Recession, the middle class squeeze, the rise of internet shopping and finally, changes in consumer spending habits.

I currently live in Czech Republic - and I have to say, the shopping malls here are thriving; it's like the 1980's/early 90's in the USA, where everyone went to the mall. Of course, I'm seeing the rise here of internet shopping as well, but right now at least, the economy is booming and people have a good deal of disposable income to spend at shopping centers (Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate in the EU 27, so much so that there's actually a labor shortage here) but as always, it's boom and bust.

Good times don't last forever.