Closing time: Is 2017 the year of the disappearing stores?

Retailers are accustomed to navigating the ups and downs of economic changes, shocks like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and changes in consumer behavior.

But today's environment is different, according to S&P Global Ratings. The reasons are plentiful and debatable. What analysts agree on is that retailers will continue to close stores this year and more may file bankruptcy.

The U.S. is still considered overstored. Shopping center space per capita in the U.S. is about 24 square feet. That compares with 16 in Canada, 14 in Europe and 11 in Australia. Dallas-Fort Worth skews high with 27 square feet for every resident.

A running total for 2017

With a store closing list like this one, even if the announcements stop now, 2017 is already a watershed year for the industry.

"Now that whole retailers are closing, we're seeing the industry shrink. But how many stores do we need? Retailers going away are mostly in specialty fashion. Beauty is doing well, but there's a lot of it now. Drugstores have a slightly different reason for being, but they don't need to be on every corner."

How does 2017 stack up?

Based on the 2,880 store closings announced by April 6, Credit Suisse forecast that 2017 will have more stores go out of business than during the Great Recession. Already the list is up to more than 5,300.

Bankruptcies hit record pace

In the first quarter, 14 retailers filed for bankruptcy compared with 18 in all of 2016.

"I think it's going to get worse than better. Bankruptcy laws became tougher in 2005. Big chains with hundreds of leases have to hire an army of lawyers and must pay vendors in full for deliveries 20 days prior to filing. Like a Sports Authority, a company can get into liquidity trouble fast."

Yet you are spending

Total retail sales increased 4.5 percent in April from a year ago. But the growth is online, making more traffic-dependent stores redundant.

"The retail industry is going through its unforgiving year. We won't know if all this consolidation is the answer until 2018 and 2019. If you hear retailers talk about sales per store rising, that's a good thing. If they find alarming numbers of stores have fallen into the unprofitable column again, there's more hurt ahead."

SOURCES: Credit Suisse; Fung Global Retail & Technology; Moody's; Fitch; S&P Capital IQ; Bloomberg; Clarion Partners; CoStar; Weitzman PHOTOS: iStock