As Aeropostale becomes the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to go by the wayside—following the likes of Sports Authority, Macy's and Sears (should I keep going?)—we decided to check in on the retail REIT industry to see how it's doing. These five REITs are holding strong atop their asset class despite the glut of struggling retailers.

Simon Property Group

Market Cap: $60.32B

Stock Price: $199.29/share

Founded: 1993

CEO David Simon (pictured) founded Simon Property—the largest retail REIT by market cap—in 1993. Despite the early year market troubles, the REIT has upped its value by 12% since January.

General Growth Properties

Market Cap: $24.36B

Stock Price: $28.17/share

Founded: 1954

GGP's CEO Sandeep Mathrani (pictured) went from his first $20k real estate deal to leading this retail giant out from bankruptcy—to be the second-largest retail REIT. The firm's stock saw a slight dip last week—dropping 2% on Wednesday.

Realty Income

Market Cap: $14.39B

Stock Price: $59.03/share

Founded: 1969

Realty Income's value has been soaring as of late, with values creeping close to the REIT's 52-week high. The REIT got a nice boost towards the end of last year when the State of Tennessee Treasury Department decided to up its holdings in the reliable firm—which has produced 80 dividend increases since 1994.

Kimco Realty

Market Cap: $11.4B

Stock Price: $27.89/share

Founded: 1958

Kimco, the largest public US owner and developer of shopping centers, saw both its NOI and stock price rise after shedding assets in Mexico and Canada last year. The REIT continued to unwind its position north of the border during fall 2015, selling $533M in assets to RioCan, Canada's largest retail REIT.

Macerich

Market Cap: $11.33B

Stock Price: $76.50/share

Founded: 1964

The 52-year-old Macerich rounds out our list of the top five retail REITs, riding its focus on high-end malls to retail dominance. The company isn't giving in to some of its larger competitor's either—Macerich just rejected a $16B takeover bid from Simon Property Group (first on our list).