Forever 21 closing 200 stores, including 21 locations in NY

A national fashion retailer is shuttering more than half of its brick-and-mortar footprint this year.

Forever 21 will shut down its headquarters in Los Angeles and close 200 stores nationwide, including 21 locations in New York state. KTLA reports the “fast fashion” clothing company, popular in shopping malls, filed WARN notices last week ahead of layoffs.

According to PIX11, Forever 21 stores closing including locations in Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls, Poughkeepsie, Victor and Yonkers. Forever 21 previously had a store at Destiny USA, but closed the Syracuse mall location last year.

Thousands of jobs are expected to be affected, and more could be on the way. KTLA reports Forever 21’s parent company, Catalyst Brands, is preparing for a second bankruptcy filing and will liquidate all of its remaining stores if it doesn’t find a buyer.

Forever 21, which previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019, had more than 800 locations at the height of its popularity. The latest closures represent more than half of its current 350 locations.

Industry analysts told the Los Angeles Times that Forever 21 expanded too rapidly and struggled to keep up with changes in fast-fashion trends and competition from online retailers.

A spokesperson for Catalyst Brands told KTLA that Forever 21 “continues to explore strategic options while also looking at ways to reduce costs across our operations and optimize our store footprint.”