These PA Retailers Went Out Of Business In 2023

PENNSYLVANIA — Several national discount, department store and specialty chains closed locations in Pennsylvania in 2023 as they grappled with inflationary pressures, filed for bankruptcy, or came to grips with new economic realities such as social awareness over the impacts of consumerism and blowback from student loan payments restarting.

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 Pennsylvania:

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.

Sixteen Bed Bath and Beyond stores in Pennsylvania will shut down, including Cranberry Township, Bethlehem, Erie, Exton, Harrisburg, Homestead, Jenkintown, King of Prussia, Lancaster, Mechanicsburg, Newtown, Stroudsburg, Warrington, Whitehall, Wilkes-Barre, and Wyomissing.

In February, Dallas-based discount home goods retailer Tuesday Morning announced plans to shutter half its stores amid bankruptcy, but then said in April it would close all of its stores. In all, 487 stores were affected, including six in Pennsylvania.

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. The company had seven stores in Pennsylvania: Allentown, Downingtown, Erie, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Moosic, and York.

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. None of the 27 parties in Pennsylvania have been busted.

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. None of one of Pennsylvania 135 stores is impacted by this announcement, though Walmart lost a store here in 2019 and laid off 600 employees at one of its warehouses here earlier in 2023.

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. There are 35 Best Buys across Pennsylvania.

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. While the Washington Square store in Philadelphia, which opened in 2016, is closing, another Target is coming to the University City area at 3701 Chestnut Street.

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. Pennsylvania has 466 CVS stores, and already fired 157 employees in the state in a mass layoff earlier this year. It's not clear which locations will be impacted by the coming closures.

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. Four Pennsylvania stores are among those that will be shuttered, including 927 Paoli Pike, West Chester, 821 E. Bishop St., Bellefonte, 6200 Saltsburg Rd., Pittsburgh, and 2545 Aramingo Ave., Philadelphia.

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. Pennsylvania has 114 locations.

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. The Harrisburg location is among the stores already shuttered.

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. It's not yet clear how that will impact specific Foot Locker locations, though stores located inside Pennsylvania malls like King of Prussia may be more vulnerable to closing. There are 30 total Foot Locker locations in the Keystone State.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, which acquired the outdoor retailer Moosejaw, headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan, from Walmart in February, said in September it would close 11 of its 14 Moosejaw stores by early 2024, the Detroit Free Press reported. Dick's says the acquisition could help its Public Lands stores, one of which is in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

Lidl, the German discount grocery chain, closed 11 of its 170 U.S. stores in six states, citing underperformance. Lidl opened stores in Washington, D.C., and Greensboro, North Carolina, and planned to open another in Brooklyn, New York. One of the 11 shuttered stores was at 125 W. Dekalb Pike in King of Prussia.

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 the recent closures of Macy's have not impacted the Keystone State, old shuttered Macy's that anchored some of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh area's biggest shopping destinations continue to be revitalized and reimagined as new stores and concepts.