Forever 21 in Fresno’s Fashion Fair mall quietly hangs ‘store closing’ signs
Forever 21 — the department store at Fresno’s Fashion Fair mall that took over the former Gottschalks location — is closing.
A manager confirmed the store is closing but said it did not have a closing date.
A worker was still hanging up the “Everything must go” signs Tuesday.
The Visalia Mall store will remain open, according to an employee.
Forever 21 — geared toward fashionable customers between 15 and 35, with a “sweet spot” of 21- to 24-year-olds —opened at the east end of the mall in 2011. An example of fast fashion, Forever 21 rushed new trends to the store floor quicker and cheaper than traditional department and mall stores.
A going-out-of-business sale has already started, with much of the store at 10% off, including cropped camouflaged T-shirts and white puffer jackets.
Underwear, Christmas sweaters and shoes, including thigh-high silver high-heeled boots, were 40% off.
The manager referred questions to the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. An employee there referred a reporter to an HR email, which did not immediately respond to questions about why the store is closing.
Unlike recent mass closures such as at Joann’s fabric stores, Forever 21 has not made any public announcements about closures or financial struggles. However, news surfaced over the weekend of a handful of Forever 21 locations headed for closure on the East Coast.
Closing signs went up at a store in Bethesda, Maryland, and at least three Forever 21 locations are closing in Connecticut.
A flagship at the former Gottschalks
Forever 21 in Fresno was one of the biggest stores in the 470-store chain when it opened more than a decade ago, larger than locations in Las Vegas and New York City’s Times Square at the time.
Locally, it was seen as a sort of changing of the guard, replacing the Fresno-based Gottschalks department store many mourned with a younger, trendier shop.
“We’re looking at it as a real flagship for us,” Forever 21 executive vice president Larry Meyer told The Bee at the time. “We’ve had such success in Fresno.”
At first, Forever 21 occupied all three stories, taking up 150,000 square feet.
Over the years, it shrunk. The third floor was closed off in 2016, the same year the Hanford store (which also took over a former Gottschalks) closed.
Today, Forever 21 is down to one floor, its racks spread out and its inventory thin.
In 2019, the retailer filed for bankruptcy and was bought by a group of mall operators.
This year is expected to be a tough one for many retailers, with experts predicting an avalanche of closures due to continued inflation and competition with online retailers. Some consumers are also turning away from fast fashion retailers as they reject the environmental impact of such clothing and turn to more sustainable clothing.
