Once Popular Retailer Brookstone To Shut All Mall Stores
You may have stopped in to try one of their fancy massage chairs at the Poughkeepsie Galleria, but not enough people were actually buying them apparently. Retailer Brookstone has announced they will be closing their remaining 101 mall locations after they filed for bankruptcy for a second time on Thursday as reported by CNN Money.
According to their CEO, the company has been finding success at their 35 airport stores and online but have been having serious trouble at the malls in which they operate. They are searching for someone to purchase the chain to keep it going and have obtained a $30 million in financing to continue operations for the time being. The airport locations and online retailer will remain open.
Unfortunately, it seems customers began using the store as a place to try out high tech items first hand while then going to purchase elsewhere online after finding something they liked. Former executive Steven Schwartz admitted as much via CNN, stating, they were an amazing retail operation but failed to reinvent themselves in the digital arena.
This is the second bankruptcy for Brookstone, having gone from 240 stores in 2014 to the remaining 101 today. While overall mall traffic is in decline, both the Poughkeepsie and Middletown Galleria malls continue to do well overall.
