Last Maryland Disney Store Closing In Next 2 Weeks

MARYLAND — The last Disney store in Maryland is among the dozens nationally that are set to close in the next few weeks.

The store at Clarksburg Premium Outlets, 22705 Clarksburg Road in Clarksburg, will close on or before Sept. 15. It is listed on the company’s store locator as one that will close soon as Target plans to open more than 100 Disney shops inside many of their stores nationwide, USA Today reported.

The local store is one of 57 Disney said would close before Sept. 15, according to the report. Disney said earlier this year it was closing 40 other stores nationwide.

The announcement brings the number of stores Disney plans to close to 97.

In March, Disney said it will close at least 60 physical stores this year to focus on its e-commerce business, according to USA Today. The report said only about two dozen Disney stores will remain open around the country after the latest round of closures.

The newspaper in March reported these Maryland closings, which have since ceased operation:

• Baltimore: White Marsh Mall, 8200 Perry Hall Blvd.
• Hanover: Arundel Mills, 7000 Arundel Mills Circle

Stephanie Young, the president of consumer products, games and publishing for Disney, told USA Today in March the company has “been focused on meeting consumers where they are already spending their time, such as the expansion of Disney store shop-in-shops around the world."

“We now plan to create a more flexible, interconnected e-commerce experience that gives consumers easy access to unique, high-quality products across all our franchises,” Young said.

The stores inside Disney theme parks and Target stores won’t be affected by the latest closures, the USA Today report says. Target will continue to add Disney store sites inside their own stores as more Disney standalone sites close.

Even before stores were shut down by the coronavirus, traditional brick-and-mortar establishments were losing revenue and customers to e-commerce giants like Amazon, Target and Walmart.

Store closings ramped up in the first half of 2021, even as states loosened coronavirus restrictions and shoppers headed back to malls. Victoria's Secret, Best Buy, Macy's, Bed Bath & Beyond and J.C. Penney have all said they will close stores this year, USA Today reported.

Here is a list of some of the stores in Maryland that closed in 2020.

• Catherine's: The affordable plus-sized clothing retailer for women announced it was shuttering all stores after parent company, Ascena, filed for bankruptcy in July. Maryland had four Catherine's stores: Capitol Heights, Glen Burnie, Waldorf and Windsor Mill.
• Lord & Taylor: The department store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August. Lord & Taylor, which traces its roots to 1826, closed 37 stores, including at The Mall in Columbia and White Flint Mall in Kensington.
• Modell's Sporting Goods: The family-owned sporting goods retailer shuttered all its stores after declaring bankruptcy in March. Among the 115 stores were nine in Maryland: Annapolis, Arundel Mills, Baltimore, Bethesda, Capitol Heights, Greenbelt, Germantown, Parkville and Waldorf.
• Papyrus: The greeting card chain's 260 stores entered liquidation in January. Five stores in Maryland closed: Annapolis (1730 Annapolis Mall); Bethesda (7101 Democracy Blvd., Montgomery Mall); Chevy Chase (5457 Wisconsin Ave., Chevy Chase Center), Columbia (10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy., The Mall in Columbia); and Towson (825 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson Town Center).
• Pier 1: The home furnishings chain in May announced plans to shutter all of its 541 stores. The company said it would reopen its stores after the pandemic but only long enough to sell off its inventory.

Some MD Stores Close As Chains Scale Back

• Bar Louie: The chain gastro pub filed for bankruptcy in January, closing 38 restaurants across the country, including its Owings Mills, Rockville and Wheaton locations.
• Bed, Bath & Beyond: Three stores in Maryland closed in 2020: Gaithersburg (558 N. Frederick Avenue), Hanover (7000 Arundel Mills Circle) and Salisbury (2653 N. Salisbury Boulevard). The Nottingham Square store (5210 Campbell Boulevard) closed in January 2021, according to the Maryland Department of Labor.
• Brooks Brothers: The 200-year-old menswear retailer filed for bankruptcy and was purchased in September by mall operator Simon Property Group, which also now co-owns J.C. Penney. Simon plans to keep about 125 stores in the chain operating; Brooks Brothers had about 425 stores before the pandemic. The outlet store in Hagerstown closed.
• Francesca's: At the end of 2020, the boutique announced it was closing 140 locations nationwide after filing chapter 11 bankruptcy, including one in Bethesda Row, which shuttered in January.
• GNC: The supplement chain filed for bankruptcy in June and announced plans to close 800 to 1,200 stores nationwide, including three in Maryland: Brandywine, Gaithersburg and Waldorf.
• J.C. Penney: The department store shuttered three locations in Maryland: Abingdon (3411 Merchant Blvd., Boulevard at Box Hill); Lanham (9100 McHugh Dr., Woodmore Towne Center); and La Vale (1262 Vocke Rd., Country Club Mall).
• Jos. A. Banks and Men's Wearhouse: Tailored Brands, which also the two men's fashion retailers, let go of 100 stores it identified as underperforming when it filed for bankruptcy in August. These included three in Maryland: Jos. A Bank stores in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Severna Park as well as the Men's Wearhouse in Towson Town Center.
• Justice: The chain announced plans to shutter more than 75 percent of its stores, after the parents company of the tween-focused apparel chain for girls ages 6 to 12, Ascena, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. In the shop's final week of liquidation, all inventory was priced under $10. Ten stores in Maryland closed, including sites in Annapolis, Bel Air, Columbia, Gambrills and Glen Burnie.
• Macy's: The department store chain closed one store — The Centre at Salisbury —after in early February announcing plans to close 28 stores over the next three years, around a fifth of its brick-and-mortar footprint.
• Nordstrom: The department store chain in May announced it would close 16 of its 116 full-line stores after the coronavirus accelerated market trends pushing more shoppers online. The Annapolis Mall store reportedly closed in August.
• Sears: Five stores shuttered in Maryland last year as the company sought to reduce its brick-and-mortar footprint. Three closed by April: Sears at Westfield Annapolis, Sears at White Marsh Mall and Sears at St. Charles Towne Center in Waldorf. Two stores — Harford Mall Sears in Bel Air and the Cumberland Sears — closed by the end of February 2020.
• Sur La Table: The upscale kitchenware chain closed roughly half of its 120 stores nationwide after filing for bankruptcy in July, citing the pandemic as the reason. The location at Towson Town Center closed.
• Tuesday Morning: The home goods retailer filed for bankruptcy in May and announced the closure of 132 stores nationally, including in Towson, Glen Burnie and Salisbury.

in 2020 nationwide.