The Parent Company of Ann Taylor and The Loft Just Filed for Bankruptcy
This year has not been kind to many retail stores. In January, the popular card retailer Papyrus shut down every brick and mortar shop. A couple of weeks later, Macy's announced it would be closing hundreds of stores and laying off thousands of employees. A few months after that, Pier 1 filed for bankruptcy and shuttered every single location. And yesterday, Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of Ann Taylor, The Loft, Lane Bryant, and Lou & Grey, among others, filed for bankruptcy and will be closing a number of stores.
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The corporation disclosed the announcement in a news release on Thursday. First, Ascena filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which gives the company a chance to restructure in hopes of reopening in the future, according to the U.S. Courts' website. The company is then going to close all Catherines stores across the country as well as in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It's also shutting down a "significant number" of Justice stores, as well as some Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant, and Lou & Grey locations. However, the exact number of store closings is yet to be determined.
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"The meaningful progress we have made driving sustainable growth, improving our operating margins, and strengthening our financial foundation has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic," Carrie Teffner, interim executive chair of Ascena, says in the release. "As a result, we took a strategic step forward today to protect the future of the business for all of our stakeholders."
The release notes that you can still shop its existing stores online, so if you'd like to do some browsing or buying, head to their respective websites.
