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The interior of a rue21 retail store in Orchard Park, N.Y. The chain has declared bankruptcy and is shutting down its more than 500 locations nationwide.
A woman walks toward the main entrance to Chapel Hills mall past the vacant Sears store. The anchor store at the mall closed in March 2019. The store was torn down and a 300-unit apartment complex built in the space.
The interior of a rue21 retail store in Orchard Park, N.Y. The chain has declared bankruptcy and is shutting down its more than 500 locations nationwide.
A woman walks toward the main entrance to Chapel Hills mall past the vacant Sears store. The anchor store at the mall closed in March 2019. The store was torn down and a 300-unit apartment complex built in the space.
National retailer rue21, whose clothing and accessories targeted teens and young adults, is closing its stores at The Citadel and Chapel Hills malls in Colorado Springs as part of the chain’s bankruptcy filing and its decision to shut its more than 500 locations.
The malls, which are owned by New York-based Namdar Realty Group, have posted announcements on their websites that show rue21 is holding going-out-of-business sales at its Springs stores. The sales end May 23, according to the announcements, though it’s unknown when the stores will close permanently.
Based in suburban Pittsburgh, rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a third time May 2, according to Reuters, the global news service. As part of the filing, rue21 sought to shutter its 540 stores and sell its intellectual property, Reuters said.
The retailer wanted to sell its business, but no buyer apparently would pay more than rue21 could earn by liquidating its inventory and closing its stores, according to Reuters, quoting documents the company had filed in bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Del.
At its peak, rue21 operated 1,000 stores, mostly in malls around the country, Reuters said. The retailer also had filed bankruptcy in 2003 and 2017; as part of its 2017 action, rue21 closed about 400 stores and slashed $700 million in debt, according to Reuters.
After it emerged from its 2017 bankruptcy, however, rue21 continued to struggle financially and was hard hit by consumers’ shift to online shopping and by the COVID-19 pandemic.
rue21 opened in 2013 at The Citadel mall on the Springs’ east side, according to Gazette archives; a second store opened two years later at the north-side Chapel Hills Mall.
Chapel Hills general manager Ed Beane called rue21’s closing a loss, but said he was confident he’ll fill the space.
“We don’t like it when any store closes, of course,” Beane said Thursday. “But with that being said, my job then is to, once they’re closed and shut down, I will go to work to find something to go in there. And I will.”
rue21 becomes one of the latest retailers to downsize or close brick-and-mortar locations because of financial troubles triggered, in large part, because of competition with Amazon and other online sellers.
In Colorado Springs, Sears, Pier 1 Imports, Tuesday Morning and Bed Bath & Beyond are among several once-familiar brands that have closed in recent years and vanished from the retail landscape.
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