The International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade organization serving the retail real estate industry, released a report, suggesting that there will be over 70,000 store closings in the first half of 2009, a number that follows the estimated 150,000 closings this year.

More than 10 big name retail box centers, including such household names as Sharper Image, Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things have filed for bankruptcy protection so far this year - with only a few days left, investors will likely see an increase in this number as companies begin filing financial reports in February.

Chief economist, Michael Niemira of the Council announced an estimate of 148,000 store closings in 2008, and another 70,000 in the first two quarters of 2009 - a number which correlates with Standard’s and Poor’s Retailing Index, which has fallen nearly 30% this year in the shadow of a recession.

The Council announced last week an estimate of a 2.7 per cent sales drop in this Christmas season at shopping centers represented by their trade organization, a number which dwarfs that of MasterCard Advisors’ Christmas numbers at 4%.

“The November retail sales environment was an extremely difficult one with the backdrop of the recession and financial crisis still looming large in the economy, with this poor start to the holiday season’s sales—even adjusting for special factors—ICSC Research has trimmed its November-December holiday sales forecast to flat to down one percent. The main special factor in November was a tough comparison from last year with a calendar-shift drag on year-over-year sales, worth between 1.5 and 2.0 percentage points.” said ICSC’s chief economist at the beginning of November, expecting a higher rate in December that never came.

Consumer-grade luxury markets take the high end of the losses, with an estimated 20% fall in spending on women’s clothing and electronics this quarter.

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