This discount clothing store chain is shutting down its three Fresno locations. Here’s why
Three Fresno Fallas Paredes stores, which sell clothing at heavily discounted prices, will shut their doors by July as analysts say the national chain suffers a cascade of economic blows.
The stores are on Fulton Street in downtown Fresno, at Cedar and Shields avenues in east-central Fresno, and on Kings Canyon Boulevard and Willow Avenue in southeast Fresno. A fourth store, in the Westlan shopping center at Ashlan and West avenues, had already shut down.
Inquiries to the corporate headquarters of National Stores Inc., which includes Fallas, sent by telephone and email, went unanswered Friday.
Employees at the Fulton Street and Cedar stores said they were ordered not to comment on the reasons for the closures. A manager at the Cedar store said that order went so far as to not provide a name. That manager appeared to be stoic about the closure, however.
“It happens,” she said.
BIG BARGAINS WHILE STILL OPEN
There were big bargains at the stores while they remain open, however. Rack upon rack of colorful T-shirts and other casual wear were on sale at the Fulton store for several dollars an item, and there was no shortage of customers Friday.
According to the Fallas website, the chain was founded in 1962 in Los Angeles, and quickly grew to 60 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Puerto Rico. Store executives indicated they were proud that “Fallas is typically located in the same communities our customers and staff call home.”
Fallas expressed interest in an online presence, as well, but the new developments appear to have overtaken that plan.
PART OF NATIONAL STORES INC.
Fallas subsequently became part of Los Angeles-based National Stores Inc., which also includes the Factory 2-U chain, according to the Fierceretail.com website.
In 2014, the so-called Brooklyn Paper reported that Fallas acquired the New York-based Conway discount chain and its 78 stores. The paper also noted that the English language translation of Fallas Paredes was “failure walls.”
The Conway purchase may have been an overreach, according to Reuters, in a story about a bankruptcy declaration by National Stores in 2018. Reuters said the bankruptcy declaration cited the purchase along with a negative retail environment as factors. Also mentioned was the data breach that exposed information from 552,000 credit cards.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 4:35 PM.