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And this week Forever 21 announced it was closing the doors of as many of 350 stores worldwide including 178 in the United States. That's about a third of the stores that operates in America. The company has filed for bankruptcy. This doesn't mean that Forever 21 has gone out of business.
People can still shop in the open stores and online. But what its trying to do is reorganize itself, to cut costs and reduce debt so it can be a money making business once again. Four years ago, Forever 21 made $4.4 billion in sales. How did it go from that to bankruptcy? Market analysts say blame the internet. People are shopping more online which strains the finances of companies that have hundreds of physical stores.
And though Forever 21 has a website, its sales only account for 16 percent of Forever 21's revenue. The company's closures are a small part of more than 8,200 store closings that have been announced so far this year. It's a new record and it's happening at a time when the economy is strong, unemployment is low and people are still spending money. They're just doing less of it at shopping malls where so many of these stores are found.
One thing you might not have known about Forever 21 is that its original name was Fashion 21. Its founder once told cnn that its older customers wanted to be 21 again and its younger ones wanted to be 21 forever. As any marketing expert will tell you branding is a major part of the business.
