Brookstone Cracks Into Bankruptcy

Another day, another mall chain closing its doors due to bankruptcy. Despite consumer spending on the rise, it seems like some markets just don’t have their niche anymore. The latest victim: Brookstone. Known as a “gadget and gift chain,” Brookstone was always one of the stores you would enter, sit in the massage chairs for thirty minutes, say how much you would love to have one of their overpriced speakers in your house, and then walk out with nothing. And with the rise of online retailers like Amazon taking over their target market, it just doesn’t come as a surprise.

Their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection file, which occurred early this Thursday morning, shows the company’s plan to close around 100 of its mall locations as well as seek a buyer for its remaining locations. The stores that will remain open will primarily be higher-spending, casino areas as well as airport locations, where business is still thriving due to its sale of comfort pillows, luggage, and other travel necessities.

Is this the end of malls as we know it, as another victim succumbs to the dying breed that is in-person shopping? It seems like the only thing consumers are really going out to purchase nowadays are clothes, and even some of those chains are seeing a decline in sales. Despite an economy on the rise, the prominence of online marketplaces shows just how digital our society is becoming.

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6 years ago
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