Aeropostale Closing 5 Calif. Stores As Part Of Bankruptcy

Aeropostale, the massive young-adult clothing retailer that seems to be in every mall in America, will be closing 113 stores in America and all 41 in Canada as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a company announcement Wednesday.

In California, five stores across the state will be closed.

• Sunrise Mall 6041 Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights
• Chico Mall 1950 East 20th Street in Chico
• Westside Pavilion 10800 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles
• Oakridge Mall 925 Blossom Hill Road in San Jose
• Town Center at Otay Ranch 2015 Birch Road in Chula Vista

Closing sales will begin this weekend, the announcement said. The stores remain open right now, and online sales will continue as normal, the company said. Aeropostale operates more than 800 stores nationwide.

Industry experts pointed to the store's failure to adapt to modern shopping trends as its ultimate demise. As the company dominated retail clothing in the late 90s and early 2000s, it operated largely in shopping malls in suburban America, targeting teens a pre-teens.

As online shopping became a dominant force, Aeropostale continued to focus on shopping malls, where foot traffic has decreased rapidly.

“The majority of the blame for poor performance lies squarely with [Aeropostale’s] failure to realign itself to the changing fashion demands of younger shoppers,” Neil Saunders, chief executive of retail analytics firm Conlumino, in a research note,according to the Washington Post. “Against this backdrop Aero has a brand and range that is ill-defined, somewhat dull, and rather out of tune with modern tastes.”

And Aeropostale is hardly the only retailer — tween clothing or otherwise — struggling to keep up with the rise of online retail shifts.

Walmart will close 154 U.S. stores this year, and both Sport Chalet and Sports Authority will shut down all of their stores completely.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Image via Raysonho, Wikimedia Commons