These Are The Stores That Are Closing In 2021

It’s been a very brutal time for brick and mortar stores, who were already in decline before the pandemic rushed in the final nail in the coffin for many of these once-booming businesses. Nearly 3000 stores are shuttering in 2021, as what many are calling the retail apocalypse continues on. Here are some of the stores that are closing their doors.

Disney Stores – 60

The corporation announced that it will be closing down 60 of its stores around the United Sates by the end of 2021. The company has said that it will shift its focus to e-commerce going forward.

Best Buy – 5

While Best Buy is closing down 5 stores around the country, this is not great news for the tech store. The stores will be closing down in Richmond, Virginia, Syracuse, New York, Carbondale, Illinois, and Brockton, Massachusetts.

Francesca’s – 140

The fashionista shop that once ruled malls all around America officially filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in December 2021. Of its 700 stores, it has already closed down 140. It’s a little too soon to tell if this will be enough to save the company, but only time will tell.

Macy’s – 45

The once dominant department store continues on its downward decline and will close 45 stores by the end of 2021. Its overall plan is to close 125 stores total by the end of 2023, which comes out to about 1/5 of its total stores. It is also cutting about 2000 corporate jobs.

Bed Bath and Beyond -43

The home goods store, known for its incredible coupons, has a plan to close down 43 stores by the end of 2021. This comes after they already closed 63 stores during 2020.

Paper Source – 11

As the world continues to become more digitized, stores that specialize in paper products are slowly closing down. Paper Source, known for its greeting cards, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and will be closing 11 of its 158 stores.

Goodwill – 8

While this one might be extra surprising, Goodwill, the store that takes in donations and sells vintage and second hand pieces will be closing down 8 stores, all in the Bay Area. Perhaps online re-selling platforms are helping bring down Goodwill.

The Children’s Place – 122

Retail chain for kid’s apparel, The Children’s Place, will be closing down 122 stores during 2021. This will complete the company’s goal of closing 300 stores, as previously announced.

Justice – 200

Ascena Retail Group, that owns Justice, Ann Taylor, and Loft, has announced that it will be closing down 200 Justice stores, which are all the remaining stores of the apparel company.

H&M – 350

The fast fashion giant is planning to close 350 stores during 2021, but it will also open up 100 new stores. That brings the company to a net loss of 200 stores, and it is citing the rise in e-commerce as the reason for the closures.

Fossil – 65

Fossil, the retailer known for its leather and accessories decreased its sales in 2020 and will continue its downward decline by closing down at least 65 of its locations around the United States.

DSW – 65

Designer Shoe Warehouse, more commonly known as DSW, will be closing 65 of its stores around the country for the next few years. After sales declined by 36% in 2020, the company decided to shutter 10% of its locations total.

Christopher & Banks – 400

The women’s apparel retail store is closing down 400 stores, which means all of its locations, and is also selling store fixture.

Family Video – 250

The video rental chain, which miraculously lasted until now, will go the way of Blockbuster and will close down its final 250 locations. The company shared in a press release: “The impact of COVID-19, not only in foot traffic but also in the lack of movie releases, pushed us to the end of an era.”

American Eagle – 250

The apparel chain will be closing down between 200 to 250 stores around the country, mostly mall locations, according to Chief Financial Officer Mike Mathias. However, the brand’s Aerie stores will grow by 50 locations.

Banana Republic – 84

Gap Inc., which owns Banana Republic, will be closing down about 1/3 of the store’s locations. According to the company, the closures will be done “with the goal of having a smaller and healthier fleet of stores.”

Gap – 136

Speaking of Gap Inc., the company will be closing down over 100 of its signature stores in 2021. This will contribute to the closure goal of 350 total by the end of the year 2023.

Victoria’s Secret – 50

The lingerie giant will be closing down 50 stores in 2021 after it already closed down 250 of its stores in 2020. The remaining stores have already undergone a huge rebranding and redesign of its flagship stores as well.

Godiva – 128

The chocolate retailer closed down all of its U.S. stores in 2021. The company shared:  “Demand for the in-person shopping experience offered through GODIVA’s brick and mortar locations has waned as a result of the pandemic and its acceleration of changes in consumers’ shopping behavior.”

Express – 60

Clothing retailer Express was already in the process of shuttering 90 stores when the pandemic hit. During the year 2020, the company closed down 31 of its stores, and the rest will close down by the end of 2022.

Brick and mortar stores have been on the decline for years now. Many stores, like the following ones, began shutting down locations even before the pandemic. Here are the stores that began to close their doors in 2019, before COVID hit.

Sears

Sears Holdings, which owns both Sears and Kmart stores, announced that about 89 of their stores will be closed down by March 2019. The majority of the stores were located in Texas and Florida.

H&M

While H&M has enjoyed plenty of success outside of the United States, it has struggles significantly to continue its growth in the U.S. The company revealed that in 2019, about 160 of their stores will be shutting down. On the bright side, they are opening up 355 new stores, mainly outside of the U.S.

Gap

Gap was once at the top of the clothing store empire, but recently announced that 230 Gap stores will be shutting down. This makes up about half of its locations worldwide. Despite this, Old Navy – which is owned by the same company – will become a standalone business, as it is thriving.

Starbucks Coffee

Even though you might see a Starbucks Coffee shop on every single street corner, you might be surprised that even Starbucks shuts down some of its stores. However, the reason is surprising: the weaker stores tend to be located in areas with other Starbucks, meaning they’re beating their own stores. The weaker Starbucks stores in saturated areas will be closed down in favor of opening up in areas without any locations.

Charlotte Russe

Once hugely popular clothing store Charlotte Russe will be saying goodbye forever this year. The company announced that all of its 500 nationwide located stores will be closed down by the end of April. Even before the stores were closed down, online sales were stopped completely.

Abercrombie & Fitch

While Abercrombie & Fitch used to dominate the high school and middle school demographic, its popularity has steadily declined since the early 2000s. The company announced that up to 40 of its locations will be closed down. However, the company will invest in opening up smaller and improved shops in hopes of saving the company.

Macy’s

Macy’s was once a staple in shopping, being the face of elegance and designer shopping. However, the once unstoppable giant announced that 8 more stores will be closing down in 2019. The Macy’s locations include two in California and one store in each of the following states: New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Indian, Washington, and Wyoming.

Payless Shoesource

Payless Shoesource was many people’s go-to store for discounted and trendy shoes. However, it seems like it wasn’t enough since the company announced that it will be shutting down all of its stores for good. That means closing down all of its 2500 locations. All of the stores will be closed by the end of May 2019.

J.C. Penney

J.C. Penny, much like Sears, was once a fixture of the shopping mall experience that has declined dramatically in recent years. It also had a strong catalogue presence once, but that has died down as well. The company will be shutting down up to 27 of its stores in hopes of salvaging what’s left of the company.

Francesca’s Collections

After disappointing foot traffic and well as low sales, women’s clothing chain Francesca’s is closing down around 30 to 40 of its locations in 2019. The company’s CEO has promised “more disruptive window displays and visual effects” in order to try to improve its sales, as well as increase its online presence.

Gymboree

Gymboree has had a difficult year: it officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January and has recently announced that about 800 of Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores will be shut down for good. In the meantime, online sales are still going on, as well as liquidation sales in stores.

Family Dollar

Family Dollar was an affordable option for many, but perhaps it wasn’t enough. Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, announced that up to 390 Family Dollar stores will be shut down. Additionally, about 200 stores will be renamed. The company will also experiment with charging more than $1 for items.

Shopko

Shopko originally announced that it will be closing down 70% of all of its branches by the middle of May. However, it recently announced that all of its locations will be closing down for good. In January, the company filed for bankruptcy. The company hoped that a buyer would save what was left of the company, but it was unable to find a buyer.

The Children’s Place

The Children’s Place announced that by 2020, 300 of its most underperforming stores will be closed down. It had already closed 191 of its branches by the end of 2018. In hopes of staying around, the company will try to increase its online sales by investing in vamping up its online presence.

Performance Bicycle

Performance Bicycles was once the go-to bike retail store chain. However, the company announced that it will go under and all of its locations will be closed down in 2019. Its parent store filed for bankruptcy and was unable to save any of its locations.

Lowe’s

The home and garden store and Home Depot’s main competitor will be closing down 51 of its weakest stores. Most of these are located in the U.S and some are in Canada. These stores are supposed to be all shut down by February 2019.

Vera Bradley

Vera Bradley is shifting gears completely in hopes of saving the brand. Rather than keep its brick and mortar stores open, it will shift to licensing and selling products at stores such as Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond. Half of the Vera Bradley store locations will be closing down.

Christopher & Banks

Women’s clothing shop Christopher & Banks announced in late 2018 will be shutting down between 30 to 40 of its stores by 2020. Interestingly, the company has actually seen an increase in its e-commerce sales. It seems as though they’re shifting their focus to online as opposed to brick and mortar stores.

Victoria’s Secret

It’s no secret that Victoria’s Secret has fallen from its former glory. After 30 of its stores being shut down in 2018, about 50 more of its branches will be closing in 2019. This means that 4% of its 1143 total worldwide stores will be closing down.

Henri Bendel

Henri Bendel was once synonymous with exclusivity and luxury, but it could not maintain this reputation for good. Every single one of its dozen locations was closed down for good by early 2019, including its famous location on 5th Avenue in New York. Its parent company, L Brands will focus on other stores such as Victoria’s Secret and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Chico’s

Chico’s FAS, which owns Chico’s along with other brands such as Soma and White House Black Market, announced that over the course of the next three years, 250 branches of all three of these stores will be closing down for good.

e.l.f. Cosmetics

e.l.f Cosmetics is following many brands’ leads in shifting its focus from its brick and mortar locations to having more of a digital presence. While all of its 22 branches will be closed, all of the products that were available in stores will still be available online. The company will also still sell its products at drugstores.

Z Gallerie

Upscale furniture chain Z Gallerie has joined many other retail companies in filing for bankruptcy recently. While it was hoping to find a buyer to save the company, they could not, meaning they had to start closing down stores. 17 locations will be shut down, which amounts to 1/5 of its locations.

Destination Maternity

Destination Maternity was once to go-to destination for expecting mothers. Due to low sales, the company decided to decrease its brick and mortar locations in order to increase its online presence. Between 40 and 60 locations will be closing down, while smaller locations will be tested out.

Beauty Brands

Beauty Brands truly suffered from the decline of the brick and mortar retailers. Without creating a strong digital presence, the company was forced to cut down its corporate staff, file for bankruptcy, and eventually the shutting down of 25 store locations.

Things Remembered

Things Remembered filed for bankruptcy in February 2019, but was lucky enough to find a buyer to save its remaining locations. Enesco LLC bought 176 branches. When the store filed for bankruptcy, it had 450 locations, which meaning 250 locations will be closing down for good despite the buyer.

Ascena Retail

Ascena Retail, the parent company of well-known retailers Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant, and Dress barn, has been suffering from a decline in sales. The company will be shutting down hundreds of its stores — 667 to be exact. 400 of these stores will be shut down by July 2019.

Southeastern Grocers

Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of many well known supermarkets such as Winn-Dixie, Harveys, and Bi-Lo has announced that about two dozen of its store locations will be closing down. The company has previously filed for bankruptcy and already closing down 100 stores.

Lord & Taylor

Lord & Taylor has been in business for over 100 years, but despite its lengthy presence, it has been declining as of late. In 2018, its flagship 5th Avenue store was closed down, and the company has announced that 10 more of its locations will be closing down in 2019.

Foot Locker

Shoe retailer Foot Locker announced recently that about 165 of its locations will be closing down. In order to try to revive its remaining locations, the company will invest millions in improving and revamping the stores in order to try to increase sales.

J. Crew

J. Crew has been seriously struggling lately. First, at the end of 2018, it lost its CEO. Then, it kicked off 2019 by shutting down six of its locations in January. The company will continue to close down stores, with plans of shutting down 30 more locations total.

Kohl’s

Kohl’s plan to try to survive being completely extinct is to close down its locations that are close to or based in malls. There low performing stores are being shut down, but Kohl’s plans to open up smaller locations in order to try to stay relevant and avoid complete failure.

LifeWay Christian Stores

LifeWay Christian Stores better start praying, because things are not looking good for the company. It was announced that every single one of its religious book store locations, as foot traffic has completely declined. The company says that it reaches 5 times more customers online, and will refocus on its online store instead.

KMart

Walmart, Target, and KMart were all founded in 1962, but it seems as thought Target and Walmart will be the only two remaining of the original “big three” discount chains. KMart has been seriously struggling and has closed 150 locations in 2018. 50 more locations will be shut down in 2019.

Nordstrom

Although Nordstrom is not quite on the verge of bankruptcy, the company has started to slowly pare down its stores. At the beginning of the year, one store location has been shut down, and the company announced that two more will be shut down in April 2019. The company plans to continue shutting down stores as time progresses.

Tesla

It was announced at the end of February 2019 that electric carmaker Tesla will be closing down most of its brick and mortar store locations over the upcoming months. The company is refocusing and planning to only sell its cars online. Additionally, it’s $35,000 model will soon be available as well.

Bed Bath & Beyond

It seems like there is a Bed Bath & Beyond branch nearly everywhere, right? However, soon, many locations will see their local branch being shut down, as the company announced that 40 locations will be closing down in 2019. However, to balance things out, the company will open up 15 locations at locations offering better leases.

Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 is facing tough times. In 2018, the company saw a very disappointing holiday season that declined 13.7% from the previous year. It seems as though the company is heading towards bankruptcy in 2019. The company will attempt to avoid this by closing down between 45 to 100 of its locations.

Signet Jewelers

Signet Jewelers is the parent company of many well known jewelry stores such as Zales, Kay Jewelers, and Jared The Galleria of Jewelry. After struggling with its 2018 season, the company decided to close down 150 locations in order to try to recover its losses. The company is focusing on closing down its mall locations.

Fred’s

Fred’s discount chain has been struggling hard recently. The retail chain has announced that it is shutting down about 1/3 of all of its locations, mainly in the Southeast. Fred’s was hoping to buy leftover stores after the planned Walgreens-Rite Aid merger plan, however the merger never came to fruition.