Alex and Ani, once popular for its expanded charm bracelets and a smaller competitor of the global Pandora chain with its lab-grown diamonds, is closing stores and its Rhode Island headquarters as it assesses the state of its business in a challenging post-pandemic environment. The company, which filed for bankruptcy court protection in 2021, will close 20 locations, leaving seven open.
Walmart is shutting down its Manhattan-based concierge delivery service Jetblack two years after its experimental launch, as it continued to lose money while not gaining customers or finding a buyer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Walmart had been in talks with potential buyers last year but the talks ended without bearing any fruit.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) retailer Brandless, which sold beauty products, non-GMO snacks and everyday items under its own non-brand austere label in a radical departure from the norm, is halting operations. Brandless is laying off 70 employees and retaining 10 to fulfill remaining orders, which stopped being accepted Feb. 10.
Children everywhere can rejoice, as Toys R Us plans to make a comeback with stores in time for the holiday season. A year after shuttering operations in the U.S., Toys R Us will return with half a dozen stores and an ecommerce site. Here is a look at the plans the the recently-defunct-and-now-back toy company has for the holidays.
Hedge fund owner and former Sears chairman Edward Lampert has struck a $21 million deal to bring the Sears Hometown stores under the same company as Sears and Kmart.
Topshop plans to close its 11 U.S. stores after filing for bankruptcy, including doors in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago, while continuing its Topshop and Topman brands online and through wholesale partners like Nordstrom.
Dressbarn parent company Ascena Retail Group announced it would begin to wind down the brand’s retail operations including the closure of all 650 stores, without giving a firm date. In 2017 the company said the shuttering would take place through 2019.
The seemingly weekly drumbeat of retailers either closing stores or filing for bankruptcy is evidence of the ongoing seismic shift in customer demands and expectations, and the failure of many to pivot fast enough to meet them. Here is how retailers should navigate through the changing tides of the industry.
Sears Holdings will soon close 72 more stores, saying it had identified a total of 100 unprofitable locations. Here is how Sears performed during the first quarter of 2018.
Sears Holdings told employees it plans to close more than 100 stores this year, including 64 Kmart locations and 39 Sears stores, most likely between March and April. Liquidation sales in affected stores will begin this month. See what Sears told employees about the closures.