Department Stores Pain – Sears Kohl’s, JC Penney Could Be Among Biggest Losers

The retail store collapse is one of the hottest topics on Wall Street this year, and it looks as if the sector’s troubles are unlikely to go away anytime soon. The decline of department stors can be blamed on many different factors, but there’s one main root cause of the problem: changing consumer preferences. Over the past decade, large out-of-town department stalls have steadily fallen out of favor with consumers, who have moved online to make their purchases. Off-price chains have also been luring shoppers out of department stores with prices up to 70% lower than traditional retail, and this…