Abstract
Department stores as an industry have been falling on tough times in the United States retail marketplace. Their once strong market presence is slowly slipping away as consumers shop at discounter and specialty stores. Many of the operational and logistical challenges department stores face have existed for years. With the economy slowly recovering, the effects of these problems are only emphasized more. Eroding sales margins, lack of consumer confidence, and the omnipresent discounter has caused department stores into bankruptcy, consolidation, and/or store closure. Will department stores go the way of dinosaurs? The study examines the operational and logistical issues involved in the department store decline and analyzes if there are ways for the industry to pull itself out from its retail market share decline.