Joann Fabric and Crafts, Walgreens, Big Lots, Kohl’s, Party City, CVS, and Forever 21.
All of these chain stores have either closed all of their locations or many locations this year. However, the closing of Forever 21 is hitting teenagers the most, because the brand has been popular among young people since the founding of the store in 1984.
On March 16 the company officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company is currently in the process of closing all stores nationwide. They expect to have all stores closed by May 1st, 2025. Unfortunately, all locations in Missouri are already closed, so students will have to order online or travel to another state if they want Forever 21 merchandise.
The brand itself won’t go away, but likely anything relating to Forever 21 will be online-only. For the time being. The site offers a rationale for the closing of their stores to customers.
“Rising costs and increased competition from abroad have made our current business model unsustainable,” reads the website. Also in the message from Brad Sell, the company’s CFO, it’s declared that gift cards will be honored until yesterday, but new gift cards will not be sold and all sales both in stores and on the website will be final.
Forever 21 has been a popular shopping spot for young people for 41 years, selling trendy and mass-produced clothing. The store’s closings have garnered an increasing amount of social media attention from adults and teens alike.
There’s a mixed reception of this event from South High’s students. Some students even view the closure of Forever 21 as a positive development, whereas some students believe it’s not that simple.
“I’m upset because It’s a place I like to shop,” said junior Gwenna Malone, “but I think it’s going to be okay. There’s already a lot of fast fashion, and it was kind of off-putting to me that there’s a Shein dropoff; it’s like a Shein storefront pretty much.”
Shein has been a partner to Forever 21, but also a competitor. Although Forever 21 does not own Shein, customers were previously able to make returns of their items to Forever 21 stores. This is facilitated by a UPS-owned company called Happy Returns, which works to set up physical return spots for online retailers like Shein. Because Forever 21 sells so many different brands and both companies sell fast fashion, Forever 21 was the best option.
Corporations like Shein and Temu have also been cited as one of the reasons Forever 21 is going out of business. On August 24, 2023, Shein and Forever 21 started their partnership for in-store returns which also included Shein being able to sell Forever 21’s products on their website. However, the two companies are still separate. Due to a rise in online shopping and a decrease in people shopping at malls, Forever 21 faced steep competition not only from Shein but from companies like Temu and Amazon as well.
“It was comparable to when Eve ate the apple casting man out of paradise,” said junior Liam Linton.
Fast fashion styles have been criticized in recent years because of unethical business practices used to make items cheaper for consumers.
Many people shopped at Forever 21 for their cheaper prices, as they are considered fast fashion themselves. But the conversation around fast fashion, like most new styles, is ever-evolving and changing.
“At the end of the day, it is still little kids who are making less than a buck to make this stuff,” said senior Joselyn Kulka.
