Everything Must Go: Record Pace of Shut Stores Fuels Business for ‘the Closers’

In the hollowed-out retail economy, Jerry Robertson finds himself almost continuously in demand. He specializes in closing stores.

Mr. Robertson travels the U.S., winding down one dying storefront after the next, from a gift shop in Kentucky to an Ace Hardware in New York.

Part sales guru, part therapist, Mr. Robertson has deployed to 28…