The phrase “retail apocalypse” gets thrown around a lot, with a sense of breathless intensity and finality—like the doors are shut and the tumbleweeds are already rolling at local malls and outdoor shopping districts around the country. While store-based retail has definitely seen brighter days, we're not quite ready to put the final nail in brick-and-mortar’s coffin.

Their tricks, your treats. Here's our round-up of who’s going hard (and who should go home) to get more of your Halloween spending this year.

Doug Stephens, “The Retail Prophet” and internationally recognized consumer futurist, started his keynote presentation at High Point Market on Sunday by depressing his audience with the statistic that 8,643 retail stores closed in 2018, and 10,000 more are projected to fail in 2019.

His news got worse.