According to U.S. Cable News Network reports, retailers such as Walmart and Nordstrom in the U.S. will continue this year, and involve complex reasons.

Walmart is scheduled to close about 20 stores and Nordstrom will close 15 stores. The pharmacy chain CVS announced in 2021 plans to close 900 stores within three years. According to RBC reports, between 40,000 and 50,000 retail stores will be closed in the United States over the next five years.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently predicted that the macroeconomic situation will be tough in the next 12 months, and "many companies" will face bankruptcy.

Government officials, including the mayor of New York, pointed out that the rise in retail theft cases was the main reason for the large number of shut-offs in merchants. For example, when Walgreen closed five stores in San Francisco in 2021, he mentioned the impact of the frequency of theft. A U.S. Retail Federation survey of approximately 60 retail member companies showed that the frequency of theft has become one of the factors causing the biggest losses to these retailers in recent years.

However, some analysts believe that the trend has been ongoing for years and is not closely linked to crime rates, and the supply and demand relationship is the key factor.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2019 and 2021, the number of people who work at home has grown from 9 million to 27.6 million, which has impacted many shopping malls, especially in the city center, as working people are the main customers of these shopping malls. Stanford University research shows that average U.S. working people now spend $2,000 to $4,600 per person per year in the city center.

In addition, online shopping continues to put pressure on physical retail. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, online retail sales accounted for 14.7 percent of total U.S. retail sales in the fourth quarter last year, with clothing, accessories, healthcare and electronics most affected by online purchases.

High human costs and store rentals also put a lot of pressure on retailers.According to data from High Latitude Real Estate Company, the average rental level for stores in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year has reached $43 per square foot (approximately RMB 3,200 per square meter).JPMorgan’s research found that the number of retail stores in San Francisco has decreased by 6% between 2019 and 2021.

At Tesla's shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Elon Musk stated that he anticipates a "tough year" for the global economy, with "many companies" facing bankruptcy. Despite plans to launch two new products, he indicated that Tesla would not be immune to the impacts of the economic downturn.

Musk predicted that the macroeconomic situation would be very tough for at least the next 12 months. He said, "I think we will see a lot of companies go bankrupt. It's important to understand that no company is immune to the macroeconomic environment."

Musk added, "But the outlook won't always be dark. I anticipate that this might be a difficult year for everyone globally. Then my best guess is that the global economy will see a turnaround in about 12 months." He believes Tesla will be in a very strong position, and therefore thinks any long-term investors will achieve excellent results.

This is not the first time Musk has issued a warning about the global economic situation. Last month, he tweeted a warning that the U.S. economy was already in a "mild recession," and that further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve would trigger a "severe recession."