Sneakers for a competitive price! Popular Baltimore shoe store offers 70% off as forced to close 74-year-old business amid ‘retail apocalypse’
- Shoe City in Baltimore filed for bankruptcy in April after recording losses
- But it means shoppers can take advantage of up to 70 percent off sneakers
- It is the latest victim of the ‘retail apocalypse’ that is forcing stores to close
A popular shoe retailer is closing all 39 stores this month, giving shoppers just weeks to get their hands on discounted items.
The Baltimore chain Shoe City was forced to file for bankruptcy in April after 74 years in business.
But it’s good news for bargain hunters, as the chain slashes prices by up to 70 percent, according to the US Sun.
The closures come amid a “retail apocalypse” in which hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores have closed due to a perfect storm of high inflation, rising crime rates and an explosion of online shopping.
The doors of Shoe City will close for good on May 31. In an April bankruptcy filing, Stanley W. Mastil, chief of restructuring, said, “Unfortunately, after 74 years in business, Shoe City’s legacy has come to an end.”
Popular Baltimore retailer Shoe City is offering up to 70 percent off its goods as it prepares to wind down its business
Shoe City was forced to file for bankruptcy in April after 74 years of operation. Stock image
The Baltimore Business Journal reported that a failed acquisition deal with Arkylz Group – the parent company of The Athlete’s Foot – was responsible for the closures.
The footwear giant also had sequential operating losses of $1.76 million in fiscal 2021, up from $280,000 in 2020.
It comes after two US Nike stores also closed their doors for good last week.
Local outlet Williamson Source reported that customers queued for “hours” to shop over the weekend after staff limited the number of customers allowed in the store.
A count by Business Insider calculates that more than 2,000 stores will close in 2023 alone.
In April, retail giant Bed Bath and Beyond closed its last 360 stores after bankruptcy.
The statement came after months of bad financial news culminating in the closure of 236 stores in February.
Since then, Bed Bath & Beyond has struggled to maintain its 360 brand stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby stores despite nearly $5.2 billion in runaway debt.
The Nike Factory Store in Brentwood, Tennessee, pictured, closed for good on Thursday
Retail giant Bed Bath and Beyond closed its last 360 stores after filing for bankruptcy in April
And by the end of the year, Walmart will have closed 60 stores since 2021, while Nordstrom Rack will also close 15 stores by the end of next year.
The trend was partly set in motion by rising crime rates. Target CEO Brian Cornell revealed last week that the chain was on track to lose $500 million a year to shoplifting.
Workers in a store said the problem was that there were robberies in many stores every ten minutes.
Crime-ridden San Francisco has been hardest hit by the crisis, with more than half of downtown stores closing since the pandemic.
Of the 203 retailers that opened in the city’s Union Square area in 2019, only 107 are still operating, a 47 percent drop in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.
And this week it was revealed High-end retailer Nordstrom is cutting nearly 400 jobs in the city.