Popular women’s retailer closing 30% of its stores | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

For those of us old enough to have been shopping at malls for decades, it’s been awfully strange to watch retailers that have been around forever closing their doors permanently.

Perhaps one of the strangest to see go was Forever21, the fast-fashion brand once so popular that people stood in long lines at their retail stores to snap up too-cheap-to-believe deals.

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But the company was eventually overtaken by similar low-cost online retailers like Shein and Temu, and eventually had to admit defeat after declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice. It closed the last of its physical locations at the beginning of May, vanishing into the ether as if it never was.

Macy’s is another mall staple that’s been around seemingly forever. But as fewer people flock to department stores to buy clothing and home goods in favor of buying them online or from discount stores like Home Goods, Macy’s has been forced to downsize.

The company announced in January that it would close 66 of its locations this year as part of a plan to close 150 “underproductive stores” through 2026. So, while it’s still afloat, it’s obvious that it’s struggling in the current climate.

You may also see specialty stores like Volcom, Billabong, and Quicksilver disappear from your local mall soon. Parent company Liberated Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February and plans to close 100 locations, although the brands themselves will live on thanks to a well-timed save from an unnamed buyer.

Now, another mall staple has announced that it will make major cuts to its locations, which means it may vanish from your local mall soon.

The plus-sized fashion brand is about to make some big changes.

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Popular women’s apparel brand is making a shift

Torrid, the plus-sized women’s clothing store founded in 2001, announced during its Q1 earnings call that it was planning to downsize its retail footprint due to customer preference for online shopping.

‘Digital continues to be our customers’ preferred channel, now approaching 70% of total demand,” CEO Lisa Harper said during the call. “We’re accelerating our transformation to a more digitally-led business, which includes optimizing our retail footprint.”

Harper went on to say that Torrid will close up to 180 underperforming stores this year, allowing the business to “reduce fixed costs and reinvest in areas that drive long-term growth, including customer acquisition and omnichannel enhancements.”

The fashion retailer currently operates 632 locations. The majority of the store closures are likely to happen in Q4, according to William Blair analysts Dylan Carden and Anna Linscott in talks with RetailDive.

The company also reported a drop in net sales of 5% year over year and a net income drop of more than half, which may also be motivating this move.

Torrid is down, but far from out

Torrid, however, sounds prepared to be resilient.

“Leveraging the deep connection with our existing customers, of which 95% are engaged in our loyalty program, combined with strategic and targeted acquisition and retention efforts, this digital transformation will position us for efficient and accelerated top and bottom-line growth,” Harper said during the earnings call.

Harper also said that Torrid plans to refresh 135 stores in Q3, which she called “low-capital investments with an expected fast return.” Despite only making up a quarter of its sales, Harper told analysts that its brick-and-mortar locations still played an important role for the brand.

Stores “serve as community hubs and immersive brand-building experiences, introducing customers to our brand and sub-brands, offering the dressing room experience, and acting as service centers for purchases made online or in stores,” she said. “Most importantly, our passionate sales associates bring the brand to life, delivering personalized service that deepens customer connection and drives long-term loyalty.”