Forever 21, a staple in American malls, files for bankruptcy protection

[MineralMan]

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/forever-21-staple-american-malls-files-bankruptcy-protection-n1060146

LOS ANGELES — Forever 21, the fast fashion clothing chain anchoring shopping malls across the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, reporting more than $1 billion in liabilities.

The company, which began with a single store in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1984, filed for Chapter 11 protection, allowing it to try to reorganize its debts and remain in business. That's less drastic than a Chapter 7 filing, which would have required the company to sell off its assets to pay its creditors.

In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, Forever 21 Inc. said it had liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion owed to more than 100,000 creditors. It reported assets in the same $1 billion-to-$10 billion range.

Looks like the fast-food outlet of clothing stores is on a final downturn...the mall is a dying phenomenon.

"So, you want accessories with that?"

[Moostache]

1. This is another serious domino falling and not a joke...

We have already lost the manufacturing base that allowed for non-college graduates to at one time live a solid middle-class lifestyle.

We also lost the traditional 'family farms' to corporate agriculture killing off another large swath of potential jobs and careers.

Now we are waist deep into the lost of retail sales positions and local malls for shopping and socialization. Soon, driverless trucks and drones are being tested to remove ANOTHER economic sector from the job market...if people believe office jobs are not VERY soon to follow, think again.

People are retreating behind their phones, tablets and PCs and pretending that the entire economic model is not on the verge of implosion for a majority of the population, but it is. Between automation, changing dynamics in habits and a government that literally could not care less...we are steam rolling into a very dark place.

I am legitimately terrified of what this country (and the planet) are going to look like in 2029 or 2039...

[MineralMan]

2. OK, so Forever 21, which stocks only cheap imported clothing, is

an important part of our economy and employs a sizable portion of our youth? Really?

It is going bankrupt because people can buy the same cheap, disposable imported clothing online for even less and get free overnight shipping and free returns without leaving their chair and between Instagram posts. That's why it's going bankrupt. The business model under which it operated no longer works, and it's not for any reason but changing shopping habits.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Well said. NT

[stopbush]

3. What needs to happen is that we need to reevaluate "work" and how people make a living.

We’re stuck in a centuries-old model where people are forced to spend 40 hours a week at low pay doing meaningless work so we can say they are “earning” a living. In the meanwhile, the fat cats at the top of corporations automate workers out of the picture, getting ever richer themselves. At present, they get to keep $ that would have gone to multiple employees in the form of salary and benefits. Yet the best we can seem to do is to run TV programs along the lines of “how the rich and famous live,” bolstering the Horatio Alger myth that wealth lies just around the corner for anybody willing to do the right thing, whatever that is.

[lunasun]

4. Will continue to operate in Mexico and Latin America, also pulling out of Europe & Asia besides USA

[lame54]

6. Our mall is hoppin'...

No death rattle here

[MineralMan]

7. Glad to hear it. Some malls seem to be doing OK, while others flounder.

I live near one that is near death, but it's just a few miles away from another one that is expanding, and is on the same freeway. Here in the Twin Cities Metro Area, there are many large malls. Too many, perhaps. Some have closed. Others are on that road. But, some continue to do well and are thriving.

It's partly due, I suppose to the anchor stores. Given the current retail environment, losing a major anchor at a mall is a disaster, since there isn't another company to replace it. At other malls, the anchor stores are still doing OK, so they continue to draw people.

And then, there's the Mall of America, which continues to be a phenomenon and is a tourist destination. It will probably continue to thrive, although the smaller stores inside it change frequently.