The line graph illustrates the number of retail shop closures and new shop openings in a specific nation over an eight-year period from 2011 to 2018.
Overall, both metrics experienced downward trajectories over the timeframe, with new shop openings witnessing the most substantial net decrease. Additionally, while the number of newly opened shops initially outnumbered closures, this trend reversed by the end of the period, leaving shop closures as the more dominant feature.
In 2011, new shop openings started at a peak of approximately 8,500, significantly outpacing closures, which stood at around 6,400. However, the number of openings plummeted sharply to just under 4,000 in 2012. Over the following two years, openings staged a partial recovery, climbing back up to roughly 6,200 in 2014 before dropping again to 4,000 in 2015. This figure remained entirely static until 2017, after which it dipped to its lowest level of 3,000 in 2018.
Conversely, shop closures showed erratic fluctuations during the first half of the period, oscillating between 6,000 and a peak of 7,200 in 2013. In 2015, closures experienced a dramatic collapse, bottoming out at an all-time low of under 1,000. This drop was short-lived, as closures surged back up to over 5,000 in 2016 and hovered consistently around this mark, finishing at approximately 5,100 in 2018.