It feels like clothing stores are already few and far between, as retailers are actively pulling out of malls and minimizing their brick-and-mortar footprints. The Children's Place just announced its shutting down approximately 100 locations in 2023, while Talbots, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Eddie Bauer, already shuttered individual stores this year. Now, both J.Crew and T.J. Maxx are joining the pack and closing stores. Read on to find out which locations are on the chopping block.
READ THIS NEXT:These Are All the Walmart Locations Closing Forever by the End of March.
T.J. Maxx is reportedly axing a location in Connecticut.
The T.J. Maxx in Clinton, Connecticut, is closing for good this fall, Clinton Town Council Chairman Chris Aniskovich told CT Insider. Officials confirmed the news after speaking with store employees, Aniskovich said, but the council hasn't received official correspondence from T.J. Maxx. The store will close in October this year, the chairman added.
But it's not all bad news, city officials also say that the retailer has plans to relocate to nearby Guilford, which is a roughly 10-minute driver west. According to CT Insider, T.J. Maxx has its eye on a former Walmart site in town—and the retailer applied for a sign permit with the Guilford Planning & Zoning Commission on March 3.
For its part, T.J. Maxx wasn't quick to formally confirm the news.
"T.J. Maxx has not announced any store changes in Clinton at this time," Sabrina Stewart, public relations specialist for TJX/T.J. Maxx, toldCT Insider. When asked about the move to Guilford, Stewart said that the retailer doesn't usually comment on store openings "until closer to an intended opening date."
Best Lifereached out to T.J. Maxx for comment, but has yet to hear back.
California is losing a J.Crew.
The J.Crew store in the Arden Fair mall in Sacramento, California, is being axed, theSacramento Business Journal reported. Nathan Spradlin, marketing director for Arden Fair, confirmed that the clothing store is vacating its 5,600-square-foot location on the first floor, but didn't provide an official closure date.
"Due to a neighboring retailer's need to expand into a portion of the J. Crew space, J. Crew elected to vacate," Spradlin told Sacramento Business Journal. "They did well at Arden Fair and are a brand we'd like to see as part of our retailer mix in the future."
No additional details were provided on which retailer is expanding, but the outlet noted that J.Crew is currently situated between a Lululemon store and "an unlabeled space."
"We are always evaluating our business and stores footprint, and after careful consideration, we have made the decision to close certain stores to better support our broader omnichannel strategy," a J.Crew Group spokesperson told Best Life about the closure. "We're proud to have served our customers here and look forward to continuing to do so online."
In January, J.Crew closed another location in Portland, Oregon. A spokesperson for J.Crew provided a similar statement about the Portland closure, citing regular evaluations.
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J.Crew is also expanding.
While it's sad to say goodbye to certain J.Crew locations, the retailer is also expanding its J.Crew Factory footprint.
Earlier this year, the retailer announced plans to open new J.Crew Factory stores—the retailer's outlet brand—in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Queens, New York, the Denton Crossing shopping center in Denton, Texas, the Portofino Shopping Center in Shenandoah, Texas, and the Danada Square East shopping mall in Wheaton, Illinois.
A standard J.Crew Factory store is also marking the brand's return to Trenholm Plaza in Columbia, South Carolina. J.Crew closed its store at the shopping center back in Jan. 2021, The Statereported.
Both Gap and Banana Republic recently announced closures, too.
In addition to the J.Crew and T.J. Maxx closures, Gap Inc.—which owns the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands—confirmed it will also shutter stores this year. During a March 9 earnings call, Katrina O'Connell, chief financial officer for Gap Inc., said that the company will close 50 to 55 Gap and Banana Republic stores in 2023.
O'Connell said that the closure plans are in line with those announced in Oct. 2020. At the time, Gap Inc. said it would shutter approximately 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores over the following three years.
"We remain on track to achieve our goal of closing 350 non-strategic Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America by the end of 2023," O'Connell said, adding that the company ended the 2022 fiscal year "having achieved close to 90 percent of that goal."
