Iconic retail chain closing nearly 500 stores

It's been a difficult past several years for the retail industry. 

Major contractions in the space have led to a chaotic and confusing time for both shoppers and retailers. 

Related: Global retail chain closing most stores, no bankruptcy yet

Part of this consolidation is because of covid and the chaos that ensued after mass closures forced much of the world to stay at home. 

For at least some period of time, most of us sheltered in place at home while we waited for the worst of the pandemic to pass. 

Of course, when foot traffic is forced to go down to zero nearly overnight, many stores suffer. 

This was especially the case for brick and mortar stores located in popular areas. These businesses relied on passersby and customers who might have arbitrarily added more items to their basket than if they were just shopping online. 

Unfortunately for many of them, these stores couldn't afford to stay open for months on end waiting for customers to return. When customers quickly disappeared, so too did profits. And without enough cash to keep the lights on and pay lenders or employees, many of these shops went under.

The great consolidation continues

Even when things began to reopen, social distancing and regulations on how many shoppers or diners could be within an establishment at once remained. 

Foot traffic didn't return to pre-pandemic levels until much later, and more businesses fell to the wayside. 

Larger businesses with bigger reaches and more robust balance sheets came swooping in, snapping up smaller rivals and putting down more roots to capture customers. 

More closings:

• Another struggling mall retail chain closing more stores
• Struggling supermarket chain closes more locations
• Popular bank closing dozens of branches (locations revealed)

This is largely why it seems like you see more Targets and Walmarts around town than you may have a few years ago. 

This growing lack of diversity among retail options makes for those remaining, smaller mom and pop shops to compete. 

Even mid-sized retailers that don't have the brand recognition or ability to afford more expensive debt to grow are being pushed out, since it's nearly impossible to compete with multinational large scale retail corporations. 

Particularly if those large companies have robust online presences, too.

Another retailer makes changes, closures

These changes aren't just confined to the U.S. 

The U.K. is seeing similar contractions, with iconic high street retailer WHSmith being sold and several hundred of its stores closing permanently. 

WHSmith traces its roots back to 1792, where it opened its first shop in London as a newspaper shop. It later expanded to busy travel areas, like train stations, around the U.K.

The retailer will sell about 480 of its stores to Modella Capital for £76 million. The new stores spun off will be renamed to TGJones, and 5,000 employees will also go over to Modella in the new model.

Related: Global retail chain closing most stores, no bankruptcy yet

As a part of the deal, WHSmith will continue to operate its travel hubs that are mostly clustered around an inside airports, bus and train stations, and healthcare facilities. These hubs continue to bring in a bulk of WHSmith's profit.

"High Street is a good business; it is profitable and cash generative with an experienced and high-performing management team," WHSmith CEO Carl Cowling said.

"However, given our rapid international growth, now is the right time for a new owner to take the High Street business forward."

WHSmith operates about 1,200 stores in 32 countries.