12 US retailers have already filed for bankruptcy or announced liquidations.AP/Charles Krupa
Retailers are filing for bankruptcy at record-high rates as Americans’ changing shopping habits, along with years of overly aggressive store growth, continue to shake up the industry.
A total of 12 US retailers have filed for bankruptcy or announced liquidations so far in 2018.
Here’s the retail carnage so far this year:
Nine West
Nine West Holdings filed for bankruptcy in April.
The women’s clothing and footwear company said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to help facilitate the sale of its Nine West and Bandolino businesses. The company listed debts of more than $1 billion.
“This is the right step to address our two divergent business profiles,” Nine West Holdings’ CEO, Ralph Schipani, said in a statement. “Once we complete the reorganization process, our company will have meaningfully reduced debt and interest costs and be well positioned for the future.”
Claire’s
Business Insider/Mary Hanbury
The jewelry chain Claire’s filed for bankruptcy in March. The company said plunging customer traffic to shopping malls led to its decline.
“The retail industry as a whole has been challenged by shifts in consumer purchasing preferences and habits,” Claire’s said in a bankruptcy filing.
The retailer plans to close 92 stores, most of which are located in malls.
The Bon-Ton Stores
AP Images / Rusty Kennedy
The Bon-Ton Stores owns multiple department store chains including Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, and Younkers. The company, which filed for bankruptcy in February, is winding down its business after two liquidation firms — Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group — won an auction for the company’s assets.
Remington Outdoor
Remington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March amid slowing gun sales.
The 202-year-old company, which owns gun manufacturers including Bushmaster and Marlin, said its sales fell 30% last year to $600 million.
Remington isn’t the only gun company facing sales declines. The downward trend has been called the “Trump slump” because the president is seen as supportive of the gun industry.
But Remington had been facing backlash prior to Trump’s election.
Remington settled a class-action lawsuit in 2014 and agreed to replace the triggers on 7.5 million allegedly defective guns, free of charge. While Remington maintains that the guns are safe, the lawsuits linked the guns “to hundreds of serious injuries and at least two-dozen deaths,” CNBC reports.
Kiko USA
Cosmetics retailer Kiko USA Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and said it would close all but four of its 29 stores and shut down its New York headquarters.
Bertucci’s
Italian casual-dining chain Bertucci’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April and closed 15 restaurants.
The company, which has 59 restaurants in the US, said it had agreed to sell its assets to Right Lane Dough Acquisitions LLC for nearly $20 million.
Southeastern Grocers
Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of the grocery chains Winn-Dixie, Harveys, and Bi-Lo, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March.
As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the company is closing 94 grocery stores. That represents about 16% of Southeastern Grocers’ store count, with 582 locations remaining open.
Tops Markets
Tops Markets operates 174 supermarkets — called Tops Friendly Markets — in New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in February and has said it plans to close “a few” stores, without specifying an exact number.
Brookstone
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Brookstone filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August. The retailer said it would be closing all of its mall-based stores, and it’s looking for a buyer to take on its e-commerce business and airport-based stores.
Brookstone cited declining traffic to malls as one of the main reasons for its demise.