The soon-to-shutter stores represent approximately 20 percent of the company’s total portfolio of brick-and-mortar locations spread across 48 states. The company announced its intention to close the affected stores by Jan. 31, 2021, but Francesca’s may still file for bankruptcy to help alleviate its multimillion-dollar debt, MarketWatch reports. “If the company is unable to raise sufficient additional capital to continue to fund operations and pay its obligations, the company will likely need to seek a restructuring under the protection of applicable bankruptcy laws,” Francesca’s said in a statement. This is far from the first indication of trouble for the once-popular brand, however; on Sept. 15, 2020, Francesca’s announced in a statement that its second quarter sales had fallen by 29 percent, stating that it would “take aggressive and prudent actions to reduce expense and manage cash flows.” Francesca’s isn’t the only store to announce major changes in recent months, though—read on to discover which other stores are in the process of closing. And for more stores upending operations due to the pandemic, check out This Beloved Beauty Brand Is Closing Stores Nationwide. Read the original article on Best Life. Housewares chain Furniture Factory Outlet announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early November. The combination of insufficient revenue and trouble securing materials “dropped the company’s revenue to nearly zero overnight,” said Furniture Factory Outlet CFO and COO Donald Roach in court documents. And in other closure news, check out This Iconic Children’s Brand Is Closing Stores Nationwide. Justice, a popular tween clothing store, announced in November that it would be closing all of its stores by early 2021. Prior to the announcement that the store would be shuttering all of its locations, Justice’s parent company, Ascena Retail Group Inc., had already closed 600 of the brand’s 800 U.S. stores. And for another iconic mall store shutting down locations, This Mall Favorite Just Filed for Bankruptcy. Pet goods store Pet Valu, which operates 358 stores in the U.S., announced in early November that the chain would be shuttering all of its stateside stores. “The company’s stores have been significantly impacted by the protracted COVID-19-related restrictions,” Jamie Gould, the company’s chief restructuring officer, said in a statement. And for more store closure news, sign up for our daily newsletter. Sporting goods and apparel store Columbia Sportswear, which opened its first store 82 years ago, announced the closure of a number of its brick-and-mortar locations after the company’s revenue dropped by 23 percent. As of March 2020, Columbia had already shut down eight stateside stores in addition to its European locations.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “We have not seen a sustained improvement in brick-and-mortar store traffic to date,” Tim Boyle, president and chief executive officer of Columbia, said in a statement. Boyle added that the company would likely have to close additional stores in the future. And for another retail update that could affect your morning routine, beware that Your Dunkin’ Donuts Could Be Closing for Good by the End of the Year.
