These MA Retailers Went Out Of Business In 2023

MASSACHUSETTS — Several national discount, department store and specialty chains closed locations in Massachusetts in 2023 as they grappled with inflationary pressures, filed for bankruptcy or adjusted their business models to reflect changes in consumer shopping habits.

Others, including pharmacy giants CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, closed stores as demand for COVID-19-related services declined. And Target blamed the closure of a handful of metropolitan stores on a spike in organized retail crime.

Here's a look at how some of the announcements affected Massachusetts:

Bed Bath & Beyond came back from the dead in digital form after Overstock.com acquired $21.5 million in intellectual property assets from the beleaguered chain. Still, the chain planned to shutter 896 stores as part of its bankruptcy filing, according to NBC News. The closures included 360 flagship stores, 120 Buy Buy Baby stores, and 416 Bed Bath & Beyond, Harmon and Buy Buy Baby stores that were set to close.

In August, the new owners of Buy Buy Baby, announced plans to reopen 11 stores in the Northeast, and the new owner of the health and beauty chain Harmon said it would reopen at least five stores, CNBC reported.

The 10 remaining Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Massachusetts began winding down operations in April with clearance sales. This followed a series of closures of other locations over the previous year.

The stores were all closed for good by the summer.

Foot Locker said it would shutter 545 stores, including 125 of its Champs Sports locations by 2026, as part of a "reset" that includes opening about 300 "new concept" stores, according to Business Insider.

There remain 13 Foot Locker locations in Massachusetts, according to the company website, along with six Champs Sports locations.

The Boston-based seasonal specialty retailer Christmas Tree Shops cited slowing demand, inflation and rising interest rates in its May bankruptcy filing. The chain, which previously had closed 10 stores, said it was going out of business and would close its remaining 72 locations in 20 states.

Christmas Tree Shops began liquidation sales at its 13 Massachusetts locations in July.

Banana Republic and its parent company, Gap, said about 350 stores would close in 2023 and that it would end the year with about 866 stores.

There remain 10 Banana Republic locations in Massachusetts.

Party City filed for bankruptcy in January, announced in February it would shutter 22 store closures, and added another nine to the list in April.

Party City, the largest party goods, Halloween and specialty retail chain in the country, has 21 stores in Massachusetts from Holyoke to Millbury and 11 in the Boston area.

Walmart, which has been closing a handful of underperforming stores each year, said it was shuttering 23 stores across a dozen states, according to a Business Insider report.

Massachusetts was spared from the Walmart closings and still has 48 locations across the state.

Best Buy said it would close between 20 and 30 big box stores in 2023, while opening eight smaller concept and 10 outlet stores. The company did not say what specific stores would close, but typically closes between 15 and 20 a year, Business Insider reported.

Best Buy closed locations in Boston, Cambridge and Wareham in recent years, but still has 23 Massachusetts locations.

Target blamed organized retail crime in a September announcement of nine store closures in the New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, areas. Previously, Target closed four stores with declining foot traffic — one each in Philadelphia and its hometown of Minneapolis and two in Washington, D.C.

Target still has 50 locations in Massachusetts — five of which are in Boston.

In reevaluating its physical store strategy, Amazon said in March it would shutter nine of its Go locations — two in New York, three in Seattle, and four in San Francisco, according to Business Insider.

Barnes & Noble opened two new bookstores in the Boston area within the past two years— at Lynnfield Marketplace and Legacy Place in Dedham — in the former location of two Amazon Books storefronts.

Seven Big Lots stores — three stores in California and four in Colorado — were scheduled for closure in 2023 as the discount chain shifts its emphasis to small towns from urban areas, Business Insider reported.

There remain 23 Big Lots locations in Massachusetts.

Four Macy's stores closed in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland as part of the company’s three-year plan to close 125 stores.

While Macy's closed its locations in Westfield and Leominster in 2000, there remain 16 open in Massachusetts.

JC Penney planned to close stores in Oswego, New York; Elkhart, Indiana; and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 2023, MSN reported. Since 2020, the department store chain has closed more than 150 stores. With the closure, 663 stores remain.

There are six JC Penney locations left in Massachusetts.

More CVS stores closed as the company adjusts its business plan to reflect changing populations and buying patterns. CVS is in the second year of the three-year plan to close 900 stores by the end of 2024.

While the CVS location on Front Street in Worcester was among the closures in November, the Rhode Island-based chain is still ubiquitous across the state.

Struggling under slumping sales and heavy debt from opioid-related litigation, the Rite Aid drugstore chain said in October it was accelerating the closure of some underperforming drugstores while it restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In all, 154 locations were affected. A month later, Rite Aid said it was closing 31 more stores. In all, 185 locations were affected.

Only the Webster Rite Aid location has closed in Massachusetts in recent months.

Walgreens plans to close 150 stores by the end of August 2024, the Deerfield, Illinois-based drugstore chain said in June, citing slowing demand for COVID-19-related services among other factors. Walgreens did not say which among its 9,000 stores nationwide would close.

The Lincoln Street Walgreens in Worcester closed in November but there remain 145 locations open across the state.