Women’s apparel chain Charlotte Russe will close all of its remaining stores as it becomes the latest victim of the retail apocalypse.
The company says the shutdown of 416 locations will occur during the next two months. Going out of business sales will begin immediately in stores across 44 states and Puerto Rico.
Charlotte Russe had hoped to stay in business, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month and closed 94 locations. However, a liquidation firm called SB360 Capital Partners won the bankruptcy auction for its assets and inventory and decided to close the stores.
The company will accept gift cards through March 21, and all stores will be closed by the end of April.
The move will result in thousands of job losses. Charlotte Russe had 8,700 employees at the time of its bankruptcy filing, the majority of which were part-time workers.
The fate of the chain’s Peek Kids stores was not immediately clear. It’s not mentioned in SB360’s press release and the Peek Kids website is still open for business, unlike the Charlotte Russe site.
Founded in 1975, the chain specialized in apparel for young women. In 2016, it had sales of $986 million. But like many retail chains it found itself struggling against online shopping options.
Charlotte Russe is hardly the first retailer to go out of business this year. Payless Shoe Source and Gymboree have also called it quits.
