Holiday 2017: The Truth About the "Retail Apocalypse"

If you read the news or watch it on television or the internet, you would think that most malls teeter on the edge of closing, with empty storefronts and Starbucks accounting for most storefronts. You would also think that consumers had abandoned brick-and-mortar shopping in favor of taking their business online.

In this bleak "retail apocalypse," as the media has dubbed it, the internet -- specifically Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- has decimated traditional retail. You might think, given that bleak narrative for physical retailers, that the rise of digital would lead to shrinking sales for traditional stores during the 2017 holiday season.

That seems right, but it's wrong. Digital sales are growing, and some brick-and-mortar chains have suffered, but holiday sales in physical stores will increase in 2017.

Source: Fool.com