Popular fashion retailer files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
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Major retailers like Forever 21 and Liberated Brands closed hundreds of U.S. mall stores.
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A smaller fashion designer retail chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking reorganization and debt restructuring.
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Fierce competition and evolving consumer spending habits are among the challenges retailers face.
Consumers are often disappointed to learn when one of their favorite retail stores has gone dark.
A trip to most regional malls will reveal many empty store locations, including major anchor footprints and smaller retailer spaces.
Many malls still have large empty anchor spaces that were once occupied by Forever 21, which shut down all of its remaining 354 stores by May 1, 2025, after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a second time on March 16, 2025.
A month before Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy, Liberated Brands, the operator of a portfolio of mall brands that included Volcom, Billabong, Quiksilver, Spyder, RVCA, Roxy, Honolua, and Captain Fin, liquidated and closed all 122 of its stores at malls across the country.
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Volcom
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Billabong
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Quiksilver
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Spyder
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RVCA
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Roxy
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Honolua
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Captain Fin
Those retail spaces are easier for mall operators to lease to another tenant, but some of the spaces likely remain empty.
Iconic fashion retail chain Claire’s filed bankruptcy for a second time on Aug. 6, 2025, but didn’t close anywhere close to the number of stores that Forever 21 and Liberated Bands shut down, with 18 closures by Sept. 7.
But Claire’s was lucky, compared to Forever 21 and Liberated, as private equity firm Ames Watson offered to purchase up to 950 of the chain’s 2,750 stores out of bankruptcy for $140 million and continue operating.
Each of these retail chains faced similar economic challenges, including fierce competition and evolving consumer spending habits away from brick-and-mortar shopping to online spending. They also faced rising labor and product costs driven by inflation and increased tariffs.
Many of the same economic challenges have likely driven another smaller retail chain to file for bankruptcy protection.
Fashion retail chain Brooke Rodd Designs LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its business, restructure its debt, and continue operating.
The debtor has not revealed specific reasons that drove it to file for bankruptcy.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-based fashion chain filed its Subchapter V petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles on Nov. 11, listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $500,000 to $1 million in liabilities, according to What Now.
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