MORGANTOWN — Don’t expect the national retail hemorrhage to end any time soon and the Morgantown area likely won’t be immune to the carnage.
Consumers throughout the country have shown they prefer to buy goods online, said John Deskins, director of West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business & Economic Research.
“There are more options online,” Deskins said. “It’s more convenient, you get the items quickly and there is more variety.”
Already this year, home furnishings retailer Pier 1 said it plans to close 450 stores nationwide, nearly half its total store count. So far, the Pier 1 in Pierpont Centre, as well as the Pier 1 in Clarksburg appear not to be targeted for closure, according to store closing lists that have been made public. To date, Pier 1 has not released an official list.
The A.C. Moore, a national arts and crafts retailer, said it was closing all 145 of its stores, including locations at University Town Centre in Morgantown and at Eastpointe Shopping Center in Clarksburg. Forty of those stores will be converted to Michaels by craft supply competitor, The Michaels Companies Inc.
Forever 21, a clothing store that caters to teens and young adults, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. The Los Angeles retailer said it was closing a number of stores, including its location at the Morgantown Mall. The mall lost Sears in 2018 following its bankruptcy. In prior years, Elder-Beerman and Belk left the mall.
Still, retail is a major employer in West Virginia.
The National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C., industry group, said 164,000 people work in the retail industry in West Virginia, nearly three times as many jobs as the state’s coal industry. Walmart is the largest employer in the state with 12,454 employees, according to the retail web site, qz.com. (Walmart is also the largest employer in 18 other states, including Florida, Texas, Kentucky and Ohio. Overall, Walmart employs roughly 1.5 million Americans, the website said.)
There are 21,568 retail establishments in West Virginia, with 7,649 businesses directly employing 63,000 people in the 1st Congressional district, which includes Monongalia County, the NRF said. Those people have a combined labor income — annual wages, salaries, benefits and proprietors’ income — of $1.45 billion, NRF said.
Those statistics may change as the fallout from national retailers continues.
JC Penney, for example, is trying to make itself relevant again. But, the retailer — which has a store in the Morgantown Mall — also has $4 billion in debt that is due in 2021, according to the National Law Review.
Bed Bath & Beyond, which has a store at University Town Centre, said it will close 60 stores in 2020.
“Online shopping has become prominent,” Deskins said. “No one knows how far it is going to go.”
Indeed. A recent survey by NRF found 83% of respondents said convenience while shopping is more important than it was five years ago.
As online shopping continues to grow, retailers are adjusting to how they respond to consumers.
For example, Amazon offers in-garage delivery to ensure items are delivered securely. Michaels, meanwhile, has partnered with UPS to allow customers to choose from multiple delivery locations, and 7-Eleven recently launched a voice-enabled app that allows shoppers to make delivery orders through their smart home devices, NRF said.
“Time is a precious commodity for today’s consumers,” NRF Vice President for Research Development and Industry Analysis Mark Mathews said in a statement. “Shoppers are busier with commuting to work, dealing with family obligations or catching up on school work, among other things. Naturally, convenience factors are playing a larger role in their shopping experience.”
Deskins said as retail continues to evolve, retail jobs will change, too.
The Morgantown area, which sits at the intersection of Interstate 79 and Interstate 68, would benefit from having a large distribution center, similar to the Macy’s West Virginia Fulfillment Center in Martinsburg. That center added 6,000 full and seasonal jobs last fall.
“The jobs will shift to be distribution companies,” he said. “They are going to be more concentrated.”
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