In this modern age, e-commerce businesses have seen an increase in their profit, way higher than before. Brick-and-mortar shops had fought their way to compete against these online retailers. Different international brands and department stores went out of business because of the convenience of using online shopping. E-commerce would continue because it would be easy to buy and sell items even within the comforts of your home. No trading company would be safe, not even the home goods, clothing, and electronic vendors. Check out whether your favorite stores have discontinued before the end of the year.
Closing
Payless
One of the biggest stores that would end up closing their branches was Payless ShoeSource. It was one of the highest retailers that would discontinue their outlets at different locations. They closed 2,500 of their shops and gave discounts to the items that were still not bought. They kept some of their stores open until the month of May, but other shops had closed as early as March. If you would like to visit their remaining depot then you would likely be able to find a pair of merchandise that was cheaper than the other.
Payless
Gymboree
Gymboree Group Inc. was a children’s clothing giant that filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was when they announced that they were going to close their 800 retailers including Crazy 8 and Gymboree stores all around North America. The company discontinued processing their online sales, but the liquidation sales continued to happen in different stores. This was not the first time that the company filed for bankruptcy and they had already shut down several stores last 2017.
Gymboree
Charlotte Russe
Charlotte Russe had confirmed that 500 of its stores nationwide would go out of business. Many people knew that they closed 94 retailers before the announcement. Other remaining shops were going to be discontinued by April 30. They would not accept any online sales anymore, however, customers were given the privilege to shop on their closing sales at their different branches.
Charlotte Russe
Shopko
Shopko announced that they were planning to shut almost 70 percent of their shops by May, and soon declared that the company would discontinue their business for good. Shopko filed for bankruptcy in January and hoped that there would be a buyer that would save the other remaining stores. However, it did not work out. They planned to sell off all their assets and would shut all their stores by June.
Shopko
Gap
Gap Inc. closed 230 of its stores and ended up closing nearly half of its branches all over the world in two years. They planned to turn Old Navy, their sister company, into a separate business. It was because they figured out that the Old Navy was doing better than Gap and Banana Republic in terms of profit. There would still be Gap Stores in Athleta, Banana Republic, Hill City, and Intermix open but would start to operate under NewCo.
Gap
H&M
H&M is a popular clothing retailer in the whole world, but their reputation was not the same when this year came closer to the end. The company announced that they were going to close 160 stores to optimize their business. They were taking a step to improve their business because in the U.S. their brand was not making the same profit in comparison to the other countries. However, their growth was consistent in other countries and they were planning to open 355 more stores this year, but most of the shops would not be in the U.S. and Europe.
H&M
Starbucks
Starbucks announced last summer that they were planning to close 150 of its under-performing stores permanently. That was thrice the number of stores that were usually discontinued in one whole year. They explained that the closure would happen in big cities that were packed with different coffee stores because their branches competed too much with each other.
Starbucks
The Children’s Place
The Children’s Place announced that they were planning to close 300 of their stores by 2020. Forbes stated that Children’s Place retailers had shut down 191 stores by the end of last year. Nevertheless, they still had a hundred more under-performing locations. The company tried to improve their market by selling their merchandise online in hopes of gaining profits.
The Children’s Place
Performance Bicycle
Cyclists should be aware that Performance Bicycle, the nation’s biggest bike retailer, had planned to close 104 of their locations. March 2 was their scheduled closure. Their parent company, Advanced Sports Enterprises, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The corporation had hoped to maintain at least half of the locations open, but it was further decided that it would be better to simply shut down the entire brand.
Performance Bicycle
Sears
Sear Holdings, the company who owned both Kmart and the namesake store, proclaimed that they would close 89 of their locations by March. The record had shown that it would happen throughout the country. The states that would be affected the most were Florida and Texas. There would be seven locations in every state that would go out of business.
Sears
Lowe’s
Lowe’s was a popular home and garden store with 51 of its under-performing stores being closed throughout the year. Twenty were shut down in the United State and there were 31 in Canada. Last 2018, Lowe’s stated that their target date was February 1, 2019. This announcement was made not long after the former CEO of J.C. Penney took over the company after Robert Niblock had retired.
Lowe’s
Vera Bradley
Vera Bradley had seemed to be planning its strategy. First, they would pay attention not on its stores but on licensing. They planned to sell their merchandise by using the other brands like Macy’s, Bed Bath, and Beyond instead. By 2021, they had planned to close out 50 stores, which was almost half of their total stores. They were going to discontinue their stores when the leases had already expired. Customers could still visit the remaining 52 outlets of the store.
Vera Bradley
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch planned to close out 40 of their stores next February, most of these were in the United States. There would be a slight increase in stores that would go out of business in 2018, which would bring it to a total of 29 stores. There was still some good news for the company. Business Insider stated that the company spokesperson proclaimed that they would invest by “delivering approximately 85 new experiences, including 40 new stores, with continued reduction in overall square footage.”
Abercrombie & Fitch
Christopher & Banks
In 2018, Christopher & Banks announced their plan to close 30 to 40 of their stores in the following years. This did not mean that there was a downward trend in the sales for the merchandise of the women’s retailer. The company stated that their profit rose because of e-commerce and they expected that there would be an increase in net sales this year.
Christopher & Banks
Victoria’s Secret
Victoria’s Secret is a lingerie and women’s wear retailer that closed 30 stores last 2018, and more were expected. L Brand, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, made a statement that they would discontinue another batch, which was around 53 Victoria’s Secret stores earlier this year. It would affect 4 percent of their total 1,143 stores all over the world.
Victoria’s Secret
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel closed two dozen of their stores nationwide in the early 2019. L Brands, its parent company, made a statement that Bendel’s website and retailers, including the Fifth Avenue store in New York would discontinue their business last fall. The company was certain that it would be best to put their attention on brands with higher potential like the Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret.
Henri Bendel
Chico’s
Chico’s FAS, the parent company of Chico’s, stated that they were going to close a total of 250 locations within the next three years. It would affect not only the Chico’s but also Soma & White and House Black Market. Although they did not verify the locations that would be affected.
Chico’s
e.l.f Cosmetics
e.l.f. Cosmetics was a cosmetic retailer. They had closed 22 stores by the end of March 2019 and planned to focus more on e-commerce. If you were an admirer of cosmetics and liked to buy some beauty products from e.l.f. Cosmetic, you could still purchase the products online as they planned to focus online to serve and sell on different drug stores nationwide.
elf
Family Dollar
Family Dollar was one of the stores that might no longer be available in the near future. They stated that 390 of their stores would be out of the business this year. The company changed their name on 200 locations and may charge additional dollars for their products. Which means, customers who were looking for a cheaper personal care product and similar essentials would have trouble finding the same at Family Dollar.
Family Dollar
J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney had been the staple store of many malls for decades. Because there were times that they had poor sales in the past few months, they decided to close 18 department stores this year, as they did not do well in those past holiday seasons and dropped their stock value. They also planned to discontinue their 9 furniture stores, so the total number of shops was 27.
J.C. Penney
Z Gallerie
Z Gallerie was one of those that filed for bankruptcy recently. Z Gallerie was a home furniture store that hoped to get a customer who would keep them running. It would close 17 stores while waiting for a client that would make them run in the future. This would make it a fifth of the 75 stores around the country.
Z Gallerie
Destination Maternity
Destination Maternity focused on its digital presence. They closed 42 out of their 67 stores at the end of 2019 and hoped to reduce the store expenses. As per USA Today, they planned to try places “with reduced square footage to drive higher productivity,” in an effort to give the company a new start and to improve its profit.
Destination Maternity
Beauty Brands
Beauty Brands stated that they planned to close 25 of their stores. The company did not only let go of their employee but also filed a bankruptcy last January. The brand said that it greatly suffered from the higher costs of being “a predominantly brick and mortar retailer.”
Beauty Brands
Things Remembered
Things Remembered filed for bankruptcy last February and found a buyer that was willing to maintain the remaining stores in the country. Things Remembered was known to be selling personalized and engraved products. It was bought by Enesco LLC. Enesco saved 176 stores, although this development turned them into a smaller version of its original store. The retailer had a total of 450 locations but when it was filed for bankruptcy, more than 250 stores went out of business.
Things Remembered
Ascena Retail
Ascena Retail had multiple womenswear brands subsidiaries such as Ann Taylor, Dress Barn, Lane Bryant, and Loft. However, it had experienced a decrease in sales for the past few years. In order to offset their losses, Ascena Retail made plans to cease the operations in hundreds of locations across all its brands. An estimate of 667 stores would be shut down, 400 of which would be closed this July,
Ascena Retail
Southeastern Grocers
The parent company of Winn-Dixie, Harveys, and Bi-Lo known as Southeastern Grocers was not immune to a decrease in sales. The supermarket had declared its plans to shut down twenty-two of its stores on or before the 25th of March. They had closed 94 stores upon filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Of the three subsidiaries, Bi-Lo had suffered the most with thirteen of its stores shutting down.
Southeastern Grocers
Lord & Taylor
Despite being around for over a century, Lord & Taylor finally raised the white flag for their flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Aside from this one, we could expect more closures, which could bring the number close to ten by the end of the year. They still had not disclosed how many locations in total would be affected.
Lord & Taylor
Foot Locker
Foot Locker would soon shut down one hundred sixty-five stores in total, but Foot Locker would spend millions of dollars to upgrade the remaining stores. This decision was done in the hopes of increasing profit. The shareholders were shocked when the company performed well for the final quarter last year.
Foot Locker
Macy’s
Macy’s closed eight stores in total, and it won’t end there. They had plans to make numerous closures which had affected two California branches and they had closed at least one store in numerous states such as Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, Wyoming, and Virginia.
Macy’s
J. Crew
Crew had recently become a constant part of the news. The company decided to start 2019 by shutting down six of its stores. This was only the beginning of an ongoing plan to shut down 30 stores. However, they still have not disclosed the exact number of stores they had planned to shut down.
J. Crew
Kohl’s
Kohl’s closed four stores that were located near malls throughout 2019. The company did this to prevent the same outcome of other mall-centered retailers. The retailer explained that the shops were under-performing stores. They offered the employees compensation packages or jobs at other stores. It was not an urgent decision but a preventive measure to prevent future downfall. They were planning to maintain the total store count by opening in four other smaller locations.
Kohl’s
J. Crew
Former America’s first lady, Michelle Obama is an immense J fan. Staff, but her clothes source is sadly closing down. In recent years, the profits of the businesses have plunged, the primary reason for their demise. K. The team has said goodbye to their bridal shop and to Jenna Lyons, beloved artistic director. Milliard “Mickey” Drexler, CEO, also quit the firm, who believed that better rates should be glad for the bad news.
J. Crew
99 Cents Only
The 35-year-old 99 Cents Only was a retail company that offered discounted products. But because there were multiple competitors such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Walmart, it started to face multiple challenges. Last December 2017, 99 Cents Only reported a net loss of 27.1 million dollars. The company tried to turn the situation but was unable to.
99 Cents Only
GNC
Last 2017, the gross revenue of GNC fell by 3.4 percent which approximated to 2.5 billion dollars. In addition, its debt was worth 1.3 billion dollars. GNC’s chief executive reported that the company was prospering in China and on e-commerce for the second quarter of 2018. GNC also reported that 40 percent of its shares would be sold to a Chinese pharmaceutical company. The would-be owner would produce, promote, sell and distribute the products in China.
GNC
Fred’s Pharmacy
Last May 2018, the reported gross sales for Fred’s Pharmacy dropped by 4.3 percent and their bottom-line loss peaked at 139.3 million US dollars. The pharmacy launched a total of a thousand stores all over the United States. They had increased their number of stores from 600 stores, but their plans did not bear fruit. Fred’s Pharmacy sold its specialty pharmacy, CVS, for forty million dollars.
Fred’s Pharmacy
Stein Mart
Stein Mart was a discount department store that was established in Jacksonville. It had been having trouble with the sales but somehow managed to balance their sales. In the second half of 2017, their digital revenue had increased by forty-seven percent. And even though they had reported a loss of 23.4 million dollars, the loss had decreased by ten percent. There still seemed to be a light at the end of their tunnel.
Stein Mart
Office Depot
Office Depot was well-known to be a retailer of office supplies, but they had suffered multiple challenges especially last 2017. Their sales had dropped by 7 percent which was equal to 10.2 billion dollars. The CEO of Office Depot, Gerry Smith, declared that they would be including services into their jobs. The company added a subscription program called “BizBox” with the intention of providing services more than products.
Office Depot
Vitamin Shoppe
Just like GNC, there were other retailers of vitamins that suffered the same fate. Vitamin Shoppe transferred to e-commerce and started its own subscription service. RetailDrive linked the challenges GNC and Vitamin Shoppe were facing to the declining popularity of malls combined with the increase in supplement store competitors.
Vitamin Shoppe
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus was a retailer of luxury clothes that suffered a 5 percent decrease in its top-line sales to 4.7 billion dollars last 2017. The retailer had attempted several things to improve and one thing that seemed to have worked as their Retail Drive. This did not change the fact that Neiman Marcus was suffering from its huge interest expenses.
Neiman Marcus
Bebe
Bebe’s sales as a fashion retailer began to drop when the director, Neda Mashouf, had her divorce last 2007. Manny Mashouf established Bebe way back in 1979. Its popularity had met its decline which contributed tremendously to the challenges that the retailer was facing. Last 2017, it was reported to have an operating loss of 4.6 million dollars. Bebe attempted to solve the issue by staying away from the typical retail spaces. Bebe spent 65 million dollars to close its physical stores and had decided to focus on e-commerce.
Bebe
Pier 1 Imports
For the first quarter of 2018, Pier 1 experienced a 9.2 percent net sales drop which was equal to 371.9 million US dollars year after year. S&P Global analysts had also downgraded the credit rating of Pier 1. Trump even placed a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, which was another problem against them. Pier 1 had mentioned that more than half of their goods came from China. The company surely had a lot on its plate.
Pier 1
Lands’ End
Lands’ End had specialized in clothing, home furnishings, and luggage. However, customers gradually stopped buying from the brand and it was associated with their relationship with Sears. Sears went off in another direction last 2013, the once youthful Canvas brand attempted to attract the consumers by featuring clothes style designed to look relaxed. And yet, despite being trendy, they failed to get the target clientele.
Lands’ End
Guitar Center
Guitar Center was a supplier of rock n’ roll instruments, and last 2018, they were given a year to pay off their loan of 900 million US dollars. And while Guitar Center had been around for 50 years, people had no longer bought as many guitars as they used to. As per CheatSheet, the sales of Guitar Center for electric guitars went down by 36 percent from 2005 to 2016. However, despite the financial issues, the instrument retailer still had plans to open new stores.
Guitar Center
Nine West
Nine West, a shoe retailer had a debt of 1.5 billion dollars and had plans for restructuring. Bloomberg had reported that Nine West had started selling parts of the company and had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They had also sold off Easy Spirit, one of the brands it owns, in order to stay afloat.
Nine West
David’s Bridal
Couples were now being more practical with each passing day. Brides were more inclined to were casual attires and held cheaper events for their weddings. Because of this, David’s Bridal had now been suffering a gradual decrease in their sales. The wedding dress shop had also discovered other perils such as their sales, margins, and earnings had continuously dropped. S&P Global had downgraded David’s Bridal credit rating last June 2018.
David’s Bridal
Bon-Ton
“All good things must come to an end.” A department store plus an online retailer named Bon-Ton had been open for almost a century. However, after being around for almost a hundred years, the store had filed for bankruptcy and just shortly after, it was sold then liquidated. Still, last October 2018, Bon-Ton decided to relaunch for e-commerce and announced that some of the stores would be reopened.
Bon-Ton
Tops Market
Failure to maintain or arouse the interest of consumers could be one of the most common reasons why companies had to file for bankruptcy. This was what happened with Tops Market. More customers became more attracted to non-traditional food sellers. And with the increase in competition and a decrease in food prices, Tops Market decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Tops Market kept most of its stores in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Tops
Cole Haan
Cole Haan was included in USA Today’s list of twenty-six companies at risk for 2018. They tried to engage more customers by appealing to the escalating trend for athletic shoes. They started to focus on sneakers instead of dress shoes. Nike used to own Cole Haan but was bought by Apax Partners last 2013. Because of this, the company abandoned Nike’s well-known comfort technology. Cole Haan decided to include sneaker comfort into their dress shoes.
Cole Haan
Claire’s
Most ladies had been familiar with Claire’s as they specialized in girls’ accessories and jewelry. They had fond memories of the place as this was where most girls had their ears pierced. Claire’s was established in 1961 and might not be around much longer as it had already ceased its IPO. They had stopped operations in 130 stores by the end of May 2018. Claire’s had decided to sell itself to potential investors and buyers.
Claire’s
FullBeauty Brands Holdings Corp
The market for plus-size men and women had been steadily growing. Some of the retailers for this clothing were Brylane Home, Ellos, fullbeauty.com, Jessica London, KingSize, Roaman’s, Woman Within, and last but not the least, Full Beauty Brands Holdings Corp. However, FullBeauty had filed for bankruptcy. Apax Partners, the owner, had blamed the e-commerce giant, Amazon, for their decrease in sales and had even included this reason for their message to their creditors last 2017.
FullBeauty
Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer was an outdoor company that had issues with paying its creditors. Last 2017, the owner of Eddie Bauer, Golden State Capital, had considered selling the company to solve their existing financial liabilities. S&P Global downgraded their credit ranking within the same year. They were somehow able to face the challenge. The Bellevue-based company Golden State Capital managed to save Eddie Bauer from bankruptcy last 2009.
Eddie Bauer
Bluestem Brands
Bluestem Brands has been designated an at-risk company by home, clothing, electronics, cosmetics, and health product retailer. We own 13 e-commerce websites, including Bedford, Appleseed, Fingerhut, Free, Draper’s & Damon’s, Gettingon.com, and Blair. Let’s hope they’ll execute a strategy soon!
Bluestem
PetSmart Inc.
PetSmart Inc. was a retailer of pet products and had more than 1,500 stores all over in Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The main cause of their problems was just the same as others. More and more customers turned to the convenience and cheaper alternatives from e-commerce. An e-commerce site named Chewy was bought by PetSmart but the expense of 3.35 billion dollars for the site only added fuel to the fire. Reuters had reported that this was the highest price a company ever spent for an e-commerce site.
PetSmart
BKH Acquisition Corp.
About 100 Burger King franchises in Puerto Rico are responsible for BKH Acquisition Corp. Unfortunately, they were classified as the Distressed Business Alert. Their continuing financial crises and the economic instability of the world are attributed to their global crisis.
BKH Acquisition Corp.
Mattress Firm
Everyone’s beloved mattress store recently filed bankruptcy for Chapter 11, partially because of an accounting fiasco. The company has announced that 700 of its 3,500 stores will be sold. The expectation is that needless rentals will stop and the business will be restructured.
Mattress Firm
National Stores
The corporation holding Conway, Anna’s Linens and Fallas officially filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Operations over the U.S. and Puerto Rico stores in more than 74 will shortly end. National Stores in recent years may have taken on too many brands, leaving them in massive sums of debt.
National Stores