Macy's in January announced 14 store closings, including this location at the Livingston Mall in New Jersey. (Linda Moss/CoStar).

Yet another mall-based specialty apparel retailer, Francesca’s, is closing hundreds of stores. Saks Global — parent of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman — has filed for Chapter 11 and is expected to shut some locations. American Signature Furniture shops are going dark after the chain went to bankruptcy court. And Macy’s identified 14 more stores it’s shutting.

U.S. store closings are already making headlines this year before January has even ended. But despite that rocky start, several retail analysts are predicting there will be more domestic store openings this year than in 2025, though it won’t be a dramatic increase. And at least one analyst forecasts that closings will decline.