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May 20, 2019 · The number of defunct electronics retailers is a testament to that. From wild, rambling Crazy Eddie to the farm-themed Gateway Country, here are a few electronics stores that went out of...
- Madison Troyer
- Ames. - Category: Department store. - Year founded: 1958. - Year defunct: 2002. - Lifetime: 44 years. Before there was Walmart—four years before, to be exact—there was Ames.
- Anchor Blue. - Category: Clothing. - Year founded: 1972. - Year defunct: 2011. - Lifetime: 39 years. Anchor Blue, a teen clothing chain launched in 1972, filed for bankruptcy in 2011 after 39 years of business.
- BI-LO. - Category: Grocery stores and supermarkets. - Year founded: 1961. - Year defunct: 2021. - Lifetime: 60 years. A former Winn-Dixie executive, Frank Outlaw, started the BI-LO supermarket chain in 1961 when he purchased four grocery stores in the Greenville, South Carolina area.
- Blockbuster. - Category: Video rental. - Year founded: 1985. - Year defunct: 2014. - Lifetime: 29 years. Founded in 1985, Blockbuster was once the entertainment giant of the world, with more than 65 million registered customers and more than 9,000 stores in the United States alone.
- Saundra Latham
- The Retail Apocalypse. Whether from changing consumer habits, the pandemic, or financial mismanagement, many well-known retailers have been forced to shut their doors in recent years.
- Lord & Taylor. It was the beginning of the end for Lord & Taylor when the nation's oldest department store sold its historic New York City flagship store for $850 million in 2017.
- Kaufmann's Department Store. Kaufmann's was once "one of the most important department stores in the United States," as one newspaper put it in the early 20th century.
- Pier 1 Imports. Pier 1 declared bankruptcy in 2020, right before the pandemic had fully taken hold, and the company hoped to find a buyer to breathe life into the struggling chain of home-goods stores.
Across the United States, a large number of local stores and store chains that started between the 1920s and 1950s have become defunct since the late 1960s, when many chains were either consolidated or liquidated.
- A Decade of Store Closings
- Bebe: 180 Stores
- Blockbuster: 1,700-plus Stores
- Borders: 399 Stores
- Charlotte Russe: 510 Stores
- Dressbarn: 649 Stores
- Fred's: 568 Stores
- Gymboree: 749 Stores
- Hhgregg: 220 Stores
- The Limited: 250 Stores
Here's a look at some of the biggest stores that shuttered all or nearly all locations in the 2010s, many of which relaunched an online presence.
Women's clothing chain Bebewas part of the 2017 string of closings and closed all of its stores that May. It staved off bankruptcy and remains an online store.
The saga of Blockbuster's demise was drawn out for several years. In 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by Dish Network in 2011, which planned to keep most of the 1,700 remaining stores it bought open. By the end of 2014, all corporate stores closed but a few franchise stores stuck it out. After two of the last three U.S. loca...
Kmart owned the bookstore chain in the early 1990s before spinning it off into a separate company. At one time, the book retailer operated more than 1,000 stores but lost business with the rise of e-readers like Amazon's Kindle and the growth of discount retailers. In 2011, the chain filed for bankruptcy protection and announced some stores would c...
The San Diego-based mall chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early February 2019 and outlined plans to close 94 stores. After not finding a buyer for the remaining stores, the fast-fashion retailer announced in March it would liquidate its 500 stores. Toronto-based clothing manufacturer YM Inc. purchased the Charlotte Russe brand an...
Ascena Retail Group announced the "wind-down" of its Dressbarn stores in May 2019 and closed the last remaining Dressbarn bricks-and-mortar stores closed Dec. 26. New Jersey-based Ascena's other brands include Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, Lane Bryant, Catherines and the Justice tween brand and it sold the intellectual property assets of Dressbarn t...
Discount merchandise retailer and pharmacy chain Fred's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2019 after a series of closingsthroughout the year. Before the closures, Fred's had 568 stores in 15 states in the southeastern U.S. The fate of Fred's had been shrouded in uncertainty since the company's plans to profit from a mega-merger between p...
The children’s clothing retailer was the first victim of 2019 when it announced in January 2019 that it filed for bankruptcy protection and would close both Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores and sell its high-end children’s fashion line Janie and Jack, which had 139 stores. The Children's Place purchased the rights to the Gymboree and Crazy 8 brands for ...
Electronics and appliance retailer HHGreggfiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2017 and had initially planed to close 88 stores in 15 states. It ended up closing all of its 220 stores in 19 states. Today HHGregg exists as an online store.
The Limited was one of the first retailers to announce mass store closings in 2017 and closed its 250 stores that January. It was formerly a part of L Brands, owner of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. Today The Limited is available exclusively at Belk.
- Kelly Tyko
- Consumer News Reporter
Feb 24, 2021 · Fry’s Electronics suddenly closed all of its stores overnight, ending a nearly four-decade run in business.
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May 5, 2021 · But the pandemic has been its most swiftly destructive horseman. Following years that saw major retailers swapping hands in debt-bingeing buyouts while consumers shifted from shopping malls to shopping online, the mass shutdown of 2020 pushed some of America’s most iconic brands to the brink.
