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Wet Seal Files For Bankruptcy & Target Closes All Stores in Canada

Wet Seal Files For Bankruptcy & Target Closes All Stores in Canada

Things are not looking good for teenage fashionistas looking for affordable, trendy clothing.

On the heels of the news that Deb Shops was going out of business, another junior retailer appears to be in trouble. Wet Seal has announced that they have filed for bankruptcy.

Read more: Macy’s To Close 14 Stores and Deb Shops is Officially Going Out of Business

Wet Seal store image
Image: Google

According to Forbes, Wet Seal officially filed for Chapter 11 last week on January 15th. The retailer had a loss of $36 million last quarter (YIKES) and a week before they filed bankruptcy, Wet Seal closed 338 stores, laying off nearly 3,700 employees.

Forbes reports that Wet Seal said “it has negotiated a financial assistance deal with investment bank B. Riley Financial to continue to operate some of its stores and meet obligations such as timely payment of its remaining employees.”

After the closures, 173 stores and their e-commerce website still remains. So if you’re a fan of Wet Seal, we suggest you start stocking up on your favorite pieces NOW. [Forbes]

In other store closing news, Target has announced that they will shut down all their store locations in Canada.

Target CA image
Image: Google

Last week marked the end of operations in Canada for the retailer, with all 133 stores in Canada closing, after two years of struggling sales, higher prices than their U.S. counterparts, no online presence, issues with their supply chain management (customers were frustrated at seeing empty shelves regularly) and competition from another mass retailer, Wal-Mart.

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told USA Today:

“We tried to do too much, too fast. We have a lot of operational challenges. From how sharp we are on pricing … we certainly had supply chain and logistics issues.”

[USA Today]