Over the past few years, store closures have become so common that they've hit some of the most reliable retailers, like Walmart and CVS. But while it's easy to find another place to grab groceries or to pick up your prescriptions, many people are very particular about where they shop for their apparel. With that in mind, it might be harder to hear that some major clothing and department stores are planning to shutter locations across the U.S. soon. Read on to find out which chains are closing stores, starting next week
While it's not been an easy couple of years for most businesses, clothing companies in particular have struggled to stay afloat amid the COVID pandemic and record-breaking inflation.
In March, H&M announced that it would be shuttering 240 stores this year. And just last month, Chico's confirmed that it would shut down 40 locations, both among its company-named stores and its White House Black Market (WHBM) brand. But the clothing store closures are not stopping here.
.It was recently announced that three retailers are looking to shutter locations across the country soon: Loft, Fallas, and JCPenney. Loft is gearing up to close a store in Arlington, Virginia, and a date is already set, ARLnow reported. According to the news outlet, the women's clothing store in the Crossing Clarendon shopping center is expected to close on July 18, per a sign on the store's door.
The upcoming Fallas Discount Store and JCPenney closures don't have concrete dates confirmed, but several news outlets have reported that the soon-to-be shuttered locations are already holding out-of-business sales. Fallas is planning to close the doors to a location in downtown El Paso, Texas, soon, according to the city's local CBS4 station. And while JCPenney hasn't confirmed anything, the company is reportedly planning to exit the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey, and already has signs outside this location offering 50-percent-and-up sales on merchandise, local radio station WJLK reported.
All of these closures have one other thing in common: There's not a lot of clarity. Loft employees in Arlington told ARLnow that they were not given much of a warning, nor do they really have any insight on the decision to close, as it was not made at the local level. "We got about a month's notice of the store closing," one employee told the news outlet. "We just really find out that 'the store's closing at this day and this is what you have to do to close it down' pretty much."
Loyal Fallas customers had similar comments about the closing of the department store in El Paso. "I don't know why they are closing. I wish they wouldn't close," one resident told CBS4.
And all that is known about the JCPenney closure is that it's likely based on a "redevelopment" for the mall—but officials have been talking about a redevelopment for some time now and no ideas or plans have been set yet, per centraljersey.com
This is not the first time any of these chains have closed stores in the U.S. recently.
In Jan. 2022, Loft closed a location in Rockville, Maryland. This decision came after the retailer confirmed in 2020 that 30 of its 666 locations would close after its parent company Ascena filed for bankruptcy. Fallas has also closed several stores in California this year, including one in Santa Maria and three in Fresno. And JCPenney's reduction has been widely reported. Since 2020, the company has shuttered nearly 200 locations spanning across about 40 different states