Iconic Clothing Store Closure Date Announced Amid Bankruptcy

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Forever 21 will close its Annapolis Mall store next week as the women's clothing chain undergoes Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to shutter all its U.S. locations.

The Annapolis store's last day in business is April 29, two employees told Patch.

A storewide liquidation sale is underway. When Patch visited on Tuesday, the maximum clearance discount was up to 80% off. Stock was thinning out, and the second floor was nearly empty. The business is also selling its furniture and fixtures.

The storefront has an interior entrance from the mall and an exterior entrance from the parking lot. Its exterior entrance is located between Macy's and Floyd's Barbershop.

The outgoing retailer is the latest departure from the Annapolis Mall, which hopes to reinvent itself under new ownership.

An ownership group headlined by Centennial bought the mall for $160 million last July from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. Paris-based URW has looked to sell many of its U.S. malls, instead turning toward luxury centers in Europe.

Centennial, a real estate firm headquartered in Dallas, plans to update the tenant mix at the Annapolis Mall. It envisions upscale retailers, experiential-based businesses, a wider variety of food options and the potential addition of housing down the line.

Forever 21 has six Maryland locations.

• Annapolis (Annapolis Mall)
• Bethesda (Montgomery Mall)
• Columbia (The Mall in Columbia)
• Hanover (Arundel Mills)
• Nottingham (White Marsh Mall)
• Towson (Towson Town Center)

USA Today reported last month that all 354 Forever 21 locations in the U.S. were set to close by May 1.

Forever 21 has not responded to Patch's request for comment. It also hasn't provided Patch with the exact closure dates of the other locations.

"Through their chapter 11 cases, the Company will implement an orderly wind down of its U.S. business while continuing to conduct a marketing process to solicit interest in a going concern transaction or a sale of some or all of its assets," the company said in a news release.

Forever 21 also filed for bankruptcy in 2019 before this latest news, but the problems remained consistent: rising costs, economic challenges and hearty competition from others in the fast-fashion side of the industry.

"While we have evaluated all options to best position the Company for the future, we have been unable to find a sustainable path forward, given competition from foreign fast fashion companies, which have been able to take advantage of the de minimis exemption to undercut our brand on pricing and margin, as well as rising costs, economic challenges impacting our core customers, and evolving consumer trends," said the company's Chief Financial Officer, Brad Sell.

"As we move through the process, we will work diligently to minimize the impact on our employees, customers, vendors and other stakeholders."

Forever 21’s locations outside of the United States are operated by other licensees and are not included in the Chapter 11 filings, officials said.

"Forever 21 was the brand that the former generation used," said Roger Beahm, a marketing professor and director of the Retail Learning Labs at Wake Forest University, told the Los Angeles Times. "Today’s shoppers want their own brand, they want their own identity."

Related: Forever 21 Bankruptcy: What It Means For 6 MD Stores