These National Retailer Closures Impacted MN In 2023

MINNESOTA — Several national discount, department store, and specialty chains closed locations in Minnesota 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 Minnesota:

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.

Bed Bath & Beyond had locations in Apple Valley, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Rochester, Roseville, and Woodbury. There was also a Buy Buy Baby store in Woodbury.

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.

Minnesota currently has five Foot Locker locations still in operation.

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.

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.

Walmart closed its superstore at Brooklyn Center's Shingle Creek Crossing shopping center this spring.

Richfield-based 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.

Minneapolis-based 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.

JCPenney 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.

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.

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.