What the giant wave of store closures means for shopping malls

Dozens of shopping malls across the US are beginning to feel the serious blow from the news that Macy's and Sears will collectively be closing 218 stores. To make matters worse, The Limited has suddenly shut down 250 of its stores and laid off 4,000 employees. Additional mass store closures are expected to be announced soon, as well as some possible retail bankruptcies, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Tunick. Once giants like Macy's and Sears start shutting down, a domino effect of store closings begins and it is expected to cripple the shopping malls that rely on the traffic such large stores attract.