as operating businesses because they had strong locations, Fitch said.

Mall visits are “not as popular as something to do for a pastime, particularly among teens,” analyst Sharon Bonelli, one of the report’s co-authors, said in an interview. “They’d rather be on their phones and spending their disposable income on things like electronics or restaurants, coffee shops.” Most of the defaulters were companies that didn’t have a unique model, selling branded goods that shoppers can get elsewhere, Bonelli said.

In this kind of scenario, a retailer loses its “reason to exist” and its chance to regain favor with customers, and thus loses its value as a going concern to a potential savior, the report said.

The average case took 11 months to settle, based on the time from petition date to plan confirmation.