Breaking News: Dressbarn Closing 650 Stores

2019 has been a tough year for retail; only a quarter way through the year and nearly 6,000 locations have closed their doors, leaving many spaces in malls and outside shopping centers open. Adding to the growing list of closures, Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of several successful brands such as Lane Bryant, Anne Taylor, and The Loft, announced Monday it would be closing all 650 remaining Dressbarn stores. As of yet, no plan has been set into place stating when the closures would be happening or if Ascena planned to move one of their other brands into the spaces Dressbarn currently occupies.

The women’s clothing retailer has been struggling in recent years to meet sales goals, ending 2018 with revenue down 8.55% from the previous year. Typically found in strip malls and free standing facilities, Dressbarn, founded in 1962, traditionally operates in spaces of about 7,500 sq/ft. Ascena’s eleven other trade names use similar square footage with a total of 3,500 open locations in 48 states.