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Why are major retail chains all over America collapsing?  Is the "retail apocalypse" upon us?  Well, the truth is that this is just another sign that the U.S. economy is falling apart right in front of our eyes.

Shopping malls across America are going to look a whole lot emptier soon. An exodus of giant retailers is beginning with the announcement of hundreds of store closures and thousands of people newly unemployed. The first of January, I broke with my usual tradition and wrote not about positive resolutions, but about the impending rockslide of the US economy. And “rockslide” is an apt word: as one thing starts rolling down the mountain, it will pick up other things until a veritable avalanche of other businesses and people are affected and rolling pell-mell right alongside. Last year, we saw announcements of the expected closure of some retail giants. In February of 2013, Michael Snyder wrote on The Economic Collapse Blog that we would see the following: Best Buy Forecast store closings: 200 to 250 Sears Holding Corp. Forecast store closings: Kmart 175 to 225, Sears 100 to 125 J.C. Penney Forecast store closings: 300 to 350 Office Depot Forecast store closings: 125 to 150 Barnes & Noble Forecast store closings: 190 to 240, per company comments Gamestop Forecast store closings: 500 to 600 OfficeMax Forecast store closings: 150 to 175 RadioShack Forecast store closings: 450 to 550

Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. This morning, a World News Daily report announced: Macy’s is closing 14 of its 790 stores across the country. JCPenney is closing 39 of its stores and laying off 2,250 workers. Sears has been around for 122 years, but it, too, is closing 235 under-performing stores.  C. Wonder, the preppy retailer, is going out of business, closing all 11 of its U.S. stores in the next few weeks. Wet Seal is closing 338 retail stores while dealing with bankruptcy proceedings. Nearly 3,700 full- and part-time workers will be unemployed. Aeropostale, suffering from declining sales, closed 75 stores during the holiday season, which runs from November through January. And in 2015, they expect to close an additional 50 to 75 stores. RadioShack, which is negotiating with lenders to gain approval to shutter 1,100 stores, said last month that it closed 175 locations in 2014. (source)

Even holiday sales, normally high, plummeted this Christmas.