CHICAGO – A summer spent folding and refolding sweaters at the mall was once a teen rite of passage. But as the end of the school year nears, young people hoping to find summer retail jobs must contend with a wave of shuttered storefronts and an industry in revolt.

Fourteen retail chains filed for bankruptcy protection through early April, nearly as many as filed all of last year, and a barrage of stores where young faces often greet customers — Wet Seal, the Limited, RadioShack, Rue 21, Payless Shoe Source, American Apparel — have announced mass store closures.

Long a go-to for teens seeking summer jobs or their first shot at employment, retailers for years have been buckling under shifting consumer tastes and the rise of online shopping. But this year's store meltdown has some worried that youth will lose out on a key early work experience that gives them foundational job skills.

The good news is that the meltdown is happening when the job market is strong and there are plenty of other entry-level opportunities. Strong summer hiring last year pushed total teen employment past 6 million, the highest it's been since 2008, according to the Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

But John Challenger, CEO of the firm, worries that the shift away from traditional sales floor gigs and toward the new retail jobs reality — at warehouses fulfilling online orders — may hamper teens in the long run because those jobs may be harder for them to get.

"You can walk down the street to your local town center and ask for a job," Challenger said. "That's different than going 5 miles out of town and applying at the local warehouse."

Porschia Davis, program manager for Evanston's summer youth employment initiative, which finds jobs for 14- to 18-year-olds, said smaller retailers are seeking teen workers through the city's program, which helps employers pay their wages. And some larger retailers, including grocery stores, the Gap and Old Navy, have stepped up their teen hiring, she said.

But retail isn't the holy grail for teens anyway, she said. Most teens in the program prefer to work as camp counselors or on the beach serving food or taking tokens, Davis said, and there's been growing interest in custodial jobs.

Tom Gimbel, CEO of LaSalle Network, a Chicago staffing company, said young people likely will turn more to hospitality and food service, where turnover and worker demand are high. Less sweater-folding and more table-busing could be good for young people as they develop work ethic, Gimbel said.

"They learn more about harder work, different shifts," he said. "I think it creates a lot of empathy in the white-collar world for the blue-collar world."

Snagajob, a job site for hourly work, has seen a 20 percent increase in 16- to 19-year-olds applying for food and restaurant jobs this year compared with last, and a 17 percent jump for hotel and hospitality jobs.

Vivian Grayson, 18, said training or jobs in technology would be more helpful to ensure she and her peers aren't made irrelevant by automation. Grayson recalled going out to dinner recently and having a computer take her order. "We need jobs that's going to teach us to make these machines," she said, "because these machines are going to be doing our jobs."