Children’s Place has moved from closing some of its stores to shutting down the entire chain. That includes the Gymboree brand and every retail location owned by the chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.

The children’s clothing retailer did not put out a formal statement about the shutdown, but did announce it on its website.

Visitors to the site are greeted by a banner showing that all “stores are closing,” touting a 30-60% off sale.

The banner shows that “all sales are final,” and that everything is being sold from the chain’s stores and website.

That’s a change from the company’s original announcement, when it said it planned to pursue a sale of its assets.

Children’s Place has moved from a sale to liquidation

On Nov. 8, Children’s Place shared a plan to sell “substantially all of its assets, pursuant to section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,” according to a press release.

At the time, the company said it was in discussions with multiple parties regarding potential transactions that would permit the Children’s Place to continue its business enterprise as a going concern and preserve the value of its brands.

A sale could still happen, according to the company.

“In order to maximize value for all stakeholders, The Children’s Place intends to file a motion requesting approval of a competitive marketing and sale process. This process is designed to elicit the highest or otherwise best bid for the company’s assets with the goal of continuing the company’s business as a going concern and preserving the value of its brands,” it shared.

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Children’s Place has requested parties to submit bids by December 9, 2026, and expects to complete the Court-supervised sale process by the end of December 2026.

It’s unclear how the decision to close the stores will impact the sale process.

Children’s Place has been struggling

Children’s Place’s second-quarter numbers showed that the chain was struggling.

• Net sales decreased $56.2 million, or 18.9%, to $241.8 million in the three months ended Aug. 1, 2026, compared to $298 million in the three months ended Aug. 2, 2025.
• The decrease in net sales was driven by a decrease in direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales of 15.0% due to lower traffic compared to the prior year.
• Comparable retail sales in its owned and operated DTC business decreased 16.7% for the quarter.

The company also lost money.

“Net loss was $(31.0) million, or $(1.39) per diluted share, in the three months ended August 1, 2026, compared to $(5.4) million, or $(0.24) per diluted share, in the three months ended August 2, 2025,” according to its Q2 earnings press release.

As of Aug. 1, 2026, the Company had $7.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, $47.5 million in borrowing availability under its revolving credit facility, and an additional $25 million of availability under the unsecured Commitment Letter provided by Mithaq, representing total liquidity of $79.7 million.

Children’s Place is closing all its stores.

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Children’s Place has suffered

Berkeley Research Group has been hired to advise The Children’s Place on its options.

The company, which operates mall-based stores, can’t blame a decline in mall traffic for its struggles.

“Mall traffic remained resilient in October 2026, with indoor malls, open-air centers, and outlet malls all posting year-over-year (YoY) visit growth. Once again, open-air shopping centers led the pack – with visits up 5.8%, compared with 4.1% at indoor malls and 3.6% at outlet malls,” according to data from Placer.ai.

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks the chain simply faces too many challengers.

“Kids keep growing, so parents always need to buy more clothes,” he told TheStreet.

“Unfortunately for Children’s Place, those parents have plenty of other places to shop. Walmart, Target, Old Navy, and Amazon all make it easy to buy the next size without a separate trip. Children’s Place has been a familiar name for generations of families, but familiarity only gets you so far. At some point, parents have to walk into the store or click the buy button,” he added.

Retail analyst and parent Maurie Backman thinks that the chain has lost its trendiness to some customers.

“A big problem for Children’s Place is that it loses its appeal early. Today’s 9-year-olds don’t want shirts with hearts and smiley faces and ‘girl power’ slogans. It’s a fine store for very young children, but at a certain point, it becomes, as kids today would say, ‘cringe.’ That’s not the sole reason for the company’s fiscal troubles, but it’s a factor,” she shared in a message to TheStreet.

Children’s Place is a chain that needs to be trendy in order to be relevant, and that seems nearly impossible given its competitors. When you have Walmart and Target going after the same market, and trying to offer more than just low price, it’s very hard to remain relevant.

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