Four years ago, the big story in the Bloomington-Normal economy was the closure of Mitsubishi’s manufacturing plant and the loss of 1,200 jobs. Some workers got retrained and found new jobs. Others left the area forever.
When a big local retailer like JCPenney or Gordmans closes its doors, it becomes another chapter in the “retail apocalypse” storyline that predicts the end of brick-and-mortar shopping.
