Aeropostale Closing 113 U.S. 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.

Aeropostale currently has stores at Southridge Mall in Greendale, Brookfield Square and Regency Mall in Racine and the Prime Outlets in Kenosha.

None of those stores in the Milwaukee area are said to close, according to documents released today. Stores in Fond du Lack and Wausau will be closing, however.

Aeropostale's store in the Bayshore Town Center closed in 2014. It had been at Bayshore since late 2006.

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.

Image via Raysonho, Wikimedia Commons