eBay.com have announced that in line with the UK they are going to dump the Stores link in the navigation header. The reasoning is like the UK that there’s no point searching eBay Stores now that all listings are viewable in core search results, and that the link is little used by buyers anyway.
If US sellers are anything like UK sellers this one will kick up a stink as sellers complain it’s another knock for Store owners and that the link should be kept to promote sellers who have invested in their eBay store.