17 photos show the meteoric rise and fall of Macy's, JCPenney, and Sears

In the past year, department store chains have announced a wave of location closures across the United States.

Macy's recently revealed plans to shut down 100 stores. In July, Sears said it's shuttering 43 US stores, in addition to the 265 closings it announced in early 2017. JCPenney released a list of 138 stores it will close this year.

All three chains are considering even more closures as they battle declining sales, largely due to changing consumer habits and the rise of online shopping.

But these iconic stores weren't always hurting. Over the latter half of the 20th century, they defined and anchored the American shopping mall.

Take a look at the rise and fall of three formative department store retailers.