The illustration displays the comparison between the changes in the number of stores that stopped running and that of new shops that introduced in a particular country over a 7-year period, from 2011 to 2018.
As an overview, both numbers of shop closure and opening experienced dramatic decreases within 7 years. Moreover, although the openings of new shops were much more than the closures in the beginning, this trend was totally reversed at the end.
From a detailed analysis, the opening of new stores stood at 8500 in 2011, which was the highest number in the whole period. This number then halved in 2012 before rising to over 6000 in 2014. After a fall to exactly 4000, it saw a period of stability between 2015 and 2016. Ultimately, the number dwindled again and ended at 3000.
According to the closure of shops, it began at around 6500, which was slightly fewer than the opening in that year, followed by a wild fluctuation between 2011 and 2014. After that, it dipped to almost 500 in 2015, which was the lowest number throughout the whole given period. This was followed by a jump to about 5200 in 2016 and ended at around this number that was higher than the number of shops that opened.