The line chart illustrates how many stores ended or started their business of a particular country over a seven-year period from 2011.
Overall, except for the year of 2011 and 2015, the number of shops which were closed were always higher than the openings. Notably, whereas shop closures were lower than their counterparts as much as 2000 in 2011, the opposite was true at the final year of the period in question.
With respect to the shop closures, there was a slight fluctuation around 6500 over the first four years of the period from 2011 to 2014. After that, the figure strikingly plummeted, hitting a trough at approximately 500 in 2015. Following this, the number of stores which were closed witnessed a recovery, rosing to just over 5000 in 2016 and then remained steadily until 2018.
By contrast, the store openings saw a remarkable plunge from 8500 in 2011 to just under 4000 in 2012, then increased constantly by 2000, reaching a second peak at around 6000 in 2014. The figure then declined slightly to 4000 in 2015, and remained unchanged until 2017. Finally, it dipped marginally and ended up at 3000 in the conclusion of the period.