Sports Authority - 460 stores

Kmart/Sears - 78 stores

Aeropostale - 154 stores

Walmart - 269 stores

Where I live, a lot of these are already gone and the retail space has been vacant since the summer. Same thing in a lot of the malls I used to frequent. Hell, the Mall Of America's 4th floor was vacant for decades after they closed down all the bars. The sad thing is, nobody is filling the vacuum when all these stores close. They just sit vacant for years.

And 2017 doesn't look to change that trend:

A giant wave of store closures is about to hit the US: http://www.businessinsider.com/stores-closing-macys-kohls-wa...

I've seen the same thing happening with chain restaurants for years.

To give a more concrete example, to purchase a souvenir, some personal hygiene products, some computer hardware and some spices, I'd have to make 4 stops, spend at least 2 hours and $6-8 worth of gas.

None of these things are day2day critical, like food, or essential to physically inspect before purchase (like home improvement goods)

EDIT: this growth is due in part to seasonal hires