These California Retailers Are Closing Locations In 2023 (2024)

The U.S. economy is grappling with an inflation-induced slump, and several CA businesses may decide to call it quits in 2022.

Posted Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 3:41 pm PT|Updated Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 1:54 pm PT

As the threat of recession looms over the Golden State, chains could face yet another difficult year with a whole new set of challenges. Months of inflation have caused operating costs at retail spaces to spike and have chipped away at the sales of mid-tier retailers, experts said.

Even for chains that survived the pandemic, a spate of closures could be on the horizon for both department stores and large retailers in 2023, UBS analysts predicted in mid-December of 2022.

"These trends are likely not good for department stores as both luxury companies, as well as off-price retailers, compete directly with department stores," UBS analysts Jay Sole, Mauricio Serna, Shoshana Pollack, and Tiffany Agard told Insider. "We expect department stores to close locations as challenges persist."

Here are the chains that will close entirely or close many stores in 2023.

1. Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond is set to close more than 150 stores across the nation as part of a plan to strengthen business at remaining stores. California will see the closure of more stores than in any other state.

The following eight locations are closing, AXIOS reported in September 2022:

• Burbank: 201 East Magnolia Blvd.
• Lakewood: 75 Lakewood Center Mall
• Larkspur: 2601 Larkspur Landing Circle
• Marina: 117 General Stilwell Drive
• Palmdale: 39421 10th Street West
• Redding: 1140 Hilltop Drive
• Santee: 9918 Mission Gorge Road
• San Leandro: 15555 East 14th Street

2. CVS

CVS announced in Nov. 2021 that it would shutter more than 900 locations over three years — 300 stores per year. The company said the closures would reestablish a "new retail footprint strategy aligned to evolving customer needs," Yahoo reported.

3. Rite Aid

In the spring of 2022, the retail chain announced it would close 145 stores before the year's end.

The company cited unprofitability as the main reason to close so many stores. Officials said the closures were meant to "significantly reduce costs."

4. Kroger

Grocery stores were hardly spared from the "retail apocalypse," which decimated the shopping industry from 2017 to 2020. Kroger closed several stores in 2021 and 2022 and will continue shuttering locations in 2023.

"Closing a store is a difficult decision and one that we take very seriously," Lori Raya, president of Kroger's Mid-Atlantic Division, said in a statement after closing a store that opened in 1979, according to BestLife. "This store's low financial returns made it unfeasible to continue to operate while still upholding our low-price commitment to our customers."

5. Nordstrom

While it's unclear whether Nordstrom will completely fold in 2023, analysts predict that the retailer will be "under pressure" in the first half of 2023, Insider reported. The news website also reported that analysts predict a wave of department stores will close in 2023.

6. Best Buy

This struggling electronics retailer has been quietly closing more stores each year. The chain closed 20 locations in 2019 and 20 more in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced mass closures of retailers across the nation.

In early 2021, the chain announced plans "to close a higher number this year." The company did not reveal the total number of its stores. Media reports suggest that at least 60 Best Buy stores closed in 2021.

Best Buy currently just has 145 locations in California. In September, the Best Buy at the Crossroads shopping center in Riverbank, California closed permanently. In a March, 2022 Star Tribune article, Best Buy executives said they expected business to continue to taper.

In a 2022 BizJournals.com article, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry predicted that supply chain issues, labor shortages and continued outbreaks of COVID-19 globally could lead to unexpected shutdowns of factories that could ripple through the markets, she said.

7. Northgate González Market

This popular California-based Mexican grocer closed two of its stores in Santa Ana, the Orange County Register reported.

* Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this article misattributed the statement by Best Buy CEO Corie Barry.