The pace of store closures rose in 2024, fueled by a pullback in consumer spending that also pushed up the rate of retail bankruptcies.
There were more than 6,000 announced store closures, according to data from Coresight Research, which includes restaurant and drugstore chains. That tally outpaces the 5,553 closures in 2023 and represents the highest number of doors shuttered since 2020 when around 9,700 locations were closed.
Closures spanned different retail categories from more than 700 at Advance Auto Parts to 1,200 Walgreens over the next three years to 140 locations at fast-food chain Wendy’s and 150 Denny’s restaurant doors.
The latest announcement came from Party City, which already survived one tour of bankruptcy last year. On Saturday, the beleaguered party supply retailer said it had started a wind-down process that would see going out of business sales at its 700 store locations. The locations are expected to go dark by the end of February.
And one day later, going concern risk The Container Store filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 petition. The storage and organization retailer had been in talks with lenders about a different path for its future following word that the strategic partnership where Beyond Inc. was to invest $40 million in the specialty retailer via a preferred equity transaction wasn’t likely to close. While store closures were a possibility, the home retailer is now expected to keep all 104 doors in operation, a move that will save the jobs of 3,800 employees, of which 2,900 work at the retailer’s stores.
In fashion and home retail, some closures were the result of normal store network rejiggering as chains shut their underperforming locations. But this year, a high number of closures also were due to a rise in bankruptcy filings and liquidations.
Below is a list of some of the fashion and home retail store closures in 2024.
99 Cents Only
The dollar store determined in April that an orderly wind-down of operations was necessary to maximize the retailer’s assets. That decision resulted in the closures of 371 locations across Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. Three days after its wind-down decision was disclosed, the retailer’s parent Number Holdings Inc. filed a Chapter 11 petition in Delaware. The 99 Cents Only Stores attributed its financial troubles to shrink, inflation, and increases in operating costs.
Allbirds
The footwear brand decided to close up to 15 underperforming stores in the U.S., or about a third of its total fleet. The stores targeted for closure were newer, larger stores that included a strong apparel offering. The company said it planned to focus more on its core footwear franchises at retail, as opposed to apparel.
American Freight
Franchise Group Inc.’s Chapter 11 petition resulted in the closure of its home furnishings retailer American Freight and the shuttering of 344 company-owned stores. Franchise said it would keep open its Buddy’s Home Furnishings retailer, as well as its two other retail banners Pet Supplies Plus and The Vitamin Shoppe. Last December, Franchise sold its home goods retail subsidiary W.S. Badcock Corp. to home retail competitor Conn’s, which ended up filing Chapter 11 in July to conduct an orderly wind-down of operations for both the Conn’s and W.S. Badcock banners.
Big Lots
Big Lots got its “Hail Mary” in the form of a new buyer, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, in a new deal that would help it escape the retail graveyard.
The transaction provides for the transfer of certain Big Lots assets, including between 200 to 400 Big Lots stores and up to two distribution centers, to Variety Wholesalers Inc. Variety plans to continue operating the store locations under the Big Lots banner. Variety owns more than 400 retail doors in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states under the nameplates Roses, Roses Express, Maxway, Bill’s Dollar Stores, Super 10, Super Dollar, and Bargain Town. The transaction still requires bankruptcy court approval.
Up to 315 of its 1,400 store locations were initially slated for closure this year. The distressed home retailer subsequently filed a Chapter 11 petition for bankruptcy court protection in September. As part of the bankruptcy process, Nexus Capital Management agreed to acquire substantially all of the closeout home retailer’s assets and ongoing business operations for $760 million.
However, word surfaced on Dec. 19 that the deal fell through and Big Lots began going out of business sales at all 870 store locations. Nexus Capital—which includes Careismatic Brands, Lamps Plus and Toms footwear as portfolio holdings—could still end up acquiring just several hundred Big Lots retail doors, but to get that done it would have to close fairly quickly given home retailer’s financial distress.
Bob’s Stores
Twenty-one locations shuttered following the bankruptcy filing of parent Mountain Sports LLC. The filing is the third for the banner, due to the prior Chapter 11 filings of previous owners Vestis Retail Group in 2017 and Eastern Outfitters Inc. in 2018.
BuyBuy Baby
Financial struggles pushed the retailer to transition to an online-only operation. That decision in October resulted in the closure of 10 stores plus one earlier in 2024, all of which were open for less than a year.
Conn’s
Although the discount home retailer initially planned to close 71 Conn’s stores, it ultimately decided a full-chain liquidation was warranted. That decision resulted in the shut down of 244 company-operated locations. The liquidation also resulted in the closure of 64 company-owned doors under the W.S. Bradcock banner, which Conn’s acquired in December 2023.
Dollar Tree Inc.
Although the dollar store chain initially planned to shutter just 30 stores over the next few years as leases expire, it ultimately decided to shutter an “additional 150 locations by the end of fiscal 2024.”
Eastern Mountain Sports
The sports retailer and its sibling Bob’s Stores fell into bankruptcy when its operating parent Mountain Sports LLC filed its Chapter 11 petition in June. Eastern Mountain Sports was able to secure a bid from U.K. outdoor apparel and equipment retailer Mountain Warehouse.
The retailer operated two dozen locations when the Chapter 11 petition was filed. Seventeen locations have gone dark, but seven core locations—Hadley, Mass.; Burlington, Vt.; Lake Placid, N.Y.;, West Lebanon, N.H.; Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Portsmouth, N.H., and N. Conway, N.H.—remain in operation under new ownership.
Esprit
Esprit, the fashion brand that saw featured Gisele Bündchen and Christy Turlington—Bündchen represented the stylish, cosmopolitan side, while Turlington evoked Esprit’s “natural way of life” aesthetic—in the 2010s, began insolvency proceedings in Germany for its second tour of bankruptcy in May. The insolvency saw 160 store closures across Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. Two months later, subsidiaries in Hong Kong and The Netherlands also filed for insolvency.
At the end of October, Esprit’s two U.S. subsidiaries—Esprit U.S. Distributions Limited and Esprit U.S. Retail Inc.—filed Chapter 7 liquidation petitions, resulting in the closure of about 80 locations across the U.S. The brand was once a fixture in nearly every shopping mall in the U.S. during its heyday in the ’80s and ’90s.
Express Inc.
The specialty apparel chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection in April, and said it would close 107 poor-performing locations in the process. The closures include 95 Express doors and 12 UpWest locations. The retailer operated over 525 locations under the Express, Express Edit and Express Factory Outlet banners, as well as Bonobos Guideshops, across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as the UpWest stores.
WHP Global led a consortium to acquire bankrupt Express, which included a plan to keep over 450 stores in operation and save more than 7,000 jobs in the U.S. Investors in the consortium include mall landlords Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties.
Family Dollar
Family Dollar’s owner Dollar Tree Inc. said it was closing 970 locations, with 600 doors closing in 2024 and the balance over the next several years as store leases expired. Dollar Tree is also considering options for the Family Dollar banner, including a sale of the banner.
Fred Segal
The retailer said in July that had closed its last two California stores, leaving only one retail door operating at Resorts World in Las Vegas. Earlier in the year, the other three Southern California stores had closed.
H&M
The Swedish fast-fashion chain in January said it was closing 28 stores in Spain, resulting in the release of nearly 590 workers.
Kmart
The mass discounter that began its retail life as S. S. Kresge in 1899, and was later renamed Kmart, in October shuttered its last remaining full-size store in Bridgehampton, N.Y. The only other Kmart in operation in the contiguous U.S. is a much smaller location in Miami, Fla. The nameplate also has store locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
The retailer started as part of the five-and-dime variety chain that included the retail graveyard nameplates McCrory’s and Woolworth. As a mass discounter, it is best known for its “Bluelight Specials” in which a blue strobing light would flash to give shoppers up to 15 minutes to grab whatever item was at a deep, deep discount.
LL Flooring
The bankrupt flooring retailer was acquired by F9, a company connected to its founder Tom Sullivan who operated the business in 1994 under the Lumber Liquidators banner before its rebranding to LL Flooring.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Sullivan’s firm would acquire the intellectual property assets and 219 store locations. The remaining 213 locations have closed. LL Flooring filed its Chapter 11 petition in August.
Macy’s Inc.
The department store closed five full-line locations in Arlington, Va.; San Leandro and Simi Valley in California; Lihue, Hawaii, and Tallahassee, Fla., plus two furniture galleries. The disclosure was made in January when the company said it would streamline its workforce by 3.5 percent, or 2,300 employees.
More store closures were ahead in 2024 when in December the retailer said it would shutter an additional 15 store locations within a year. These additional doors are on top of the planned 50 or so closures as part of its previously disclosed plan to shutter 150 doors over a three-year period.
Outdoor Voices
The women’s athletic apparel brand in March shuttered its 16 stores located across cities such as Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Scottsdale, Denver, and Atlanta. Two other former locations, one in Nashville and the other in Philadelphia, were closed in January. The brand had been struggling with a distressed balance sheet for years. Investment Consortium Brand Partners, which owns apparel brand Draper James, acquired Outdoor Voices this past May for an undisclosed purchase price.
Rue21
The third bankruptcy tour wasn’t the charm for the specialty apparel chain. The Chapter 11 filing in May placed the chain in the rarified Chapter 33 club, a membership-group where three bankruptcy filings meant the retail graveyard. The wind-down of operations resulted in the closure of 540 stores across strip malls, regional malls and outlet centers.
TJX Stores
The off-pricer close two T.J. Maxx doors and one Marshalls location in 2024.
Walmart
The mass discounter shuttered seven underperforming locations in the last calendar year.
Editor’s Note: The story was updated on Dec. 30, 2024, to reflect that Big Lots agreed to a sale transaction with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners.
