Aeropostale Lists 113 Closing Stores

with MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Aeorpostale has announced the 113 U.S. stores closing as part of a bankruptcy filing announced on Wednesday.

The list includes two Virginia locations, but spares the clothing retailer's mall stores in Northern Virginia, including the Spotsylvania Town Centre location.

You can view the complete list of planned store closures here.

Industry experts pointed to the store's failure to adapt to modern shopping trends as its ultimate demise. As the company dominated retail clothing in the late 90s and early 2000s, it operated largely in shopping malls in suburban America, targeting teens a pre-teens.

As online shopping became a dominant force, Aeropostale continued to focus on shopping malls, where foot traffic has decreased rapidly.

“The majority of the blame for poor performance lies squarely with [Aeropostale’s] failure to realign itself to the changing fashion demands of younger shoppers,” Neil Saunders, chief executive of retail analytics firm Conlumino, in a research note,according to the Washington Post. “Against this backdrop Aero has a brand and range that is ill-defined, somewhat dull, and rather out of tune with modern tastes.”

And Aeropostale is hardly the only retailer — tween clothing or otherwise — struggling to keep up with the rise of online retail shifts.

Walmart will close 154 U.S. stores this year, and Sports Authority will shut down all of its stores completely.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Image via Raysonho, Wikimedia Commons