Casual Clothing Retailer To Close All 50 Texas Stores Amid Bankruptcy

rue21, a casual clothing brand that specializes in youthful looks for men and women, will close all retail outlets amid their third bankruptcy. Texas has more rue21 locations than any other state by a wide margin— with a whopping 50 stores.

The company, originally founded as Pennsylvania Fashions in 1970, underwent its first bankruptcy in 2002, and after reorganizing saw great success and expansion. However, the company underwent bankruptcy again in 2017 during the so-called "retail apocalypse." 12,000 brick-and-mortar stores closed during that year alone due to a variety of converging factors, including a sea change in consumer spending habits.

rue21 attempted to find a buyer for its stores but failed to do so and is now undergoing liquidation sales. This may present a good opportunity to pick up some clothing deals from this retailer for the last time. The company's website is down and there has not yet been a press release about the bankruptcy.

Other brands have gone bankrupt this year, including Express, which will close 95 of its stores. Joann filed for bankruptcy but does not plan to close any stores. The Body Shop is closing all U.S. stores.

Why did rue21 ultimately fail? There are probably many factors including online shopping and a change in consumer spending habits.

Young people tend to buy their "fast fashion" from online sites like Temu, and those of us who have, shall we say matured out of quick trends tend to buy less, but higher-quality clothing that will last. Perhaps rue21 couldn't find its footing in that retail climate.

It might not have helped that they did not introduce plus sizing until 2014, meaning they may have failed to establish themselves as an option for a market "valued at US$ 288 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach US$ 501.35 billion by 2033."