Four Lights Analytics logged 452 closure and distress events for the week of July 4–10, 2026 — 356 closures, 57 bankruptcies, 21 layoffs, and 18 restructurings across 45 states. Healthcare tripped our first sector velocity alert at 3x its weekly baseline, and a cluster of franchisee bankruptcies (Mountain Mike's, Applebee's, and Domino's operators) marked the week.
By the numbers
The Big Story
Healthcare became the first sector to trip Store Closure Watch's velocity alert. The pipeline logged 17 healthcare closure, layoff, and restructuring events this week — nearly three times the sector's trailing eight-week average of six. Two Dignity Health hospitals in California drove the cluster: California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles confirmed layoffs affecting 82 employees, and Bakersfield Memorial Hospital confirmed cuts affecting 57. In Colorado, Aurora Mental Health closed a facility affecting roughly 100 staff, and the Jefferson Center for Mental Health will close a location in October. Two Michigan hospitals — Aspirus Ironwood and MyMichigan Medical Center in Tawas City — moved through restructurings.
The velocity signal is the point: a weekly count measured against a rolling baseline flags a sector accelerating before the shift is visible in quarterly market reports. Healthcare's jump is the first to clear the alert threshold since the measure went live.
Restaurants led the week on raw volume with 160 records, and the through-line beneath them is franchisee bankruptcy rather than brand-level failure. Operator-level Chapter filings clustered within days: Applebee's (Neighborhood Restaurant Partners) in Florida and Louisiana, Domino's (North County Pizza) in California, Tuffy Tire & Auto (Automotive Solutions) in Indiana, and Mountain Mike's Pizza (Rogue Fare) in Oregon — distress that store-count headlines miss. On individual closures, Beef-a-Roo (13 records) and Denny's (13) topped the chain counts across multiple states, and On The Border's bankruptcy continued to wind down company locations.
Sector Breakdown
- Restaurant & Food Service — 160 records. The week's largest sector, led by franchisee bankruptcies (Applebee's, Domino's, Tuffy, Mountain Mike's) and Beef-a-Roo and Denny's location closures.
- Retail — 151 records. IKEA moved to exit its small-format "Plan & Order Point" concept in several markets; Family Dollar (3), Macy's (3), and Amazon Fresh (announced) also appear alongside a long tail of independents.
- Industrial / Manufacturing — 46 records. Production and distribution sites drove the week's largest headcount losses, from Nature's Bakery to Great Lakes Coca-Cola and Enkei America.
- Healthcare — 17 records. The sector that tripped the velocity alert, concentrated in California hospitals and Colorado mental-health providers.
- Logistics / Warehouse — 16 records. Distribution-center closures at Family Dollar, Levi Strauss, and UNFI facilities.
- Office & Services — 14 records. Corporate and network-operations sites, including a Charter Communications center and Samsung.
Notable Individual Events
- Nature's Bakery — Hazelwood, Missouri. Confirmed plant closure with a WARN filing covering 345 jobs, the week's largest single facility loss.
- Nippon Electric Glass — Shelby, North Carolina. Confirmed layoffs affecting 282 employees, WARN-filed.
- Baker Hughes — Houston, Texas. Confirmed closure with a WARN filing covering 174 positions.
- Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution — Lansing, Michigan. Distribution-center closure recorded as effective, WARN-filed, affecting 161 jobs.
- Charter Communications — St. Louis metro. Confirmed closure of a network operations center, WARN-filed, covering 107 positions.
- California Hospital Medical Center — Los Angeles, California. Confirmed layoffs affecting 82 employees (Dignity Health), WARN-filed.
- IKEA Plan & Order Point — South Charlotte, North Carolina. Confirmed closure of the retailer's small-format pickup concept, effective in late August.
- Mountain Mike's Pizza (Rogue Fare LLC) — Medford, Oregon. Franchisee bankruptcy, even as the brand itself continues to operate elsewhere.
Methodology
Store Closure Watch records are AI-extracted from company announcements, WARN notices, court dockets, and news coverage, then audited with an independent verification pass and cross-referenced against state WARN filings before publication. Subscribers also receive a forward-looking Watchlist of pre-closure distress signals — corporate distress, active court dockets, and threatened closures — ahead of store-level announcements. Sector velocity compares each sector's weekly count against its trailing eight-week average. Every record carries a source link and confidence flag. Public roundups report chain names and city or metro areas only; street addresses, coordinates, and per-record source links are available to subscribers. Learn more about how the data pipeline works.
Figures reflect the dataset as of July 12, 2026, following weekly deduplication and quality review.