Beware of the retail zombies

SINGAPORE (May 8): In the movie I am Legend, Will Smith played the sole survivor in a pandemic. The post-apocalyptic thriller is set in a fictional New York City where a devastating virus wipes out most of humanity while turning a small percentage into violent mutants called darkseekers that were neither dead nor alive.

These darkseekers have superhuman survival skills and a lust for blood. Only sunlight can tame them. The movie was released in 2007 and is based on a 1954 novel, but it could also describe the troubled retailers in 2020. 

JCPenney, a famous American department store chain founded in 1902, has fallen victim to the Covid-19 outbreak. It has closed 850 stores and furloughed thousands of workers to save cash. On May 4, this American retail titan — which survived wars, major recessions and the rise of online shopping — filed for bankruptcy.