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The Brands That Closed in 2025: Retail Closures That Marked the End of an Era
- Qui Joacin
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
From Forever 21 to Rite Aid, these iconic stores quietly (and not so quietly) disappeared
If 2025 felt like the year your favorite stores suddenly vanished, you weren’t imagining it. Last year marked a major turning point for retail, with thousands of locations closing across the U.S. — and some very recognizable names disappearing for good.
In total, more than 8,200 stores shut down in 2025, a noticeable jump from the year before. Slowing consumer spending, rising prices, years of digital disruption, and massive debt loads finally caught up with brands that once felt untouchable. These are the brands that closed in 2025, and why their exits hit shoppers so hard.
Forever 21: When Fast Fashion Couldn’t Move Fast Enough
Forever 21 officially didn’t live up to its name. In March 2025, the fast-fashion giant filed for bankruptcy again and closed all of its U.S. stores — roughly 500 locations gone almost overnight.
The brand blamed “economic challenges impacting core customers,” which is a polite way of saying: teens stopped shopping there. Younger shoppers gravitated toward ultra-fast online competitors like Shein and Temu, while Forever 21 struggled to keep prices low amid rising import costs and tariffs.
Add in pandemic-era shopping shifts and the brand simply couldn’t compete in a digital-first fashion world that now moves faster than mall retail ever could.
Joann: The Craft Store That Couldn’t Cut Through Debt
Joann, the beloved fabrics and crafts retailer, closed its doors in February after more than 80 years in business. For many shoppers, this one hurt — especially longtime crafters who relied on Joann as a creative hub.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice within a year, citing sluggish sales, inventory shortages, and heavy debt. While Joann stores are gone, there’s a small silver lining: Michaels revived the Joann brand name and select private labels through a “store-within-a-store” concept.
Not the same — but not entirely erased either.
Party City: The Party Really Was Over
Party City had been struggling for years, but 2025 marked its final curtain call. After first announcing plans to close in 2024, the party-supply chain fully shut down all locations in February.
Once the go-to destination for balloons, costumes, and last-minute celebrations, Party City was squeezed from all sides — online retailers, pop-up competitors like Spirit Halloween, and big-box stores that sold party supplies cheaper and faster.
Debt also played a huge role, with the company carrying over $1.7 billion at one point.
Rite Aid: A Pharmacy Giant That Couldn’t Recover
Perhaps the most sobering loss was Rite Aid, which closed all remaining stores in October 2025 after its second bankruptcy in just a few years.
Founded in 1962, Rite Aid was once one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country. But intense competition from CVS and Walgreens, plus more than $4 billion in debt tied to opioid-related legal battles, proved too much to overcome.
Even after emerging from bankruptcy in 2024 with reduced debt and funding, the company couldn’t stabilize fast enough. Competitors swooped in, buying pharmacy operations and leaving empty storefronts behind.
What the Brands That Closed in 2025 Tell Us About Retail
Looking at the brands that closed in 2025, a few patterns are impossible to ignore:
Mall-based retail continues to shrink
Debt-heavy legacy brands are most vulnerable
Online-first competitors move faster and cheaper
Shoppers are far more selective with discretionary spending
This wasn’t just a bad year — it was a reset.
Final Thoughts
The loss of these brands feels personal because so many of us grew up shopping in them. But retail is evolving fast, and 2025 made one thing clear: nostalgia alone can’t save a business.
As we move deeper into 2026, the brands that survive will be the ones that adapt early — not the ones scrambling once it’s too late.
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