As the economy struggled to survive the downturn from the pandemic, retailers (including some that are about as old as America herself) struggled as people turned to Amazon and other online stores to get goods delivered to them via the United States Post Office or UPS.
Now, Lord & Taylor – America’s oldest department store chain – is set to close all of its stores after being in business for nearly two hundred years.
Because the economy has crushed this American business, which was sold to a French company last year, it will close all of its 38 stores in a desperate liquidation sale.
This was a change since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, deciding, at the time, to keep fourteen locations open.
Lord & Taylor opened its doors in Manhattan in 1824. It was a dry goods store and the first of its kind. Making history as the first department store in the United States, Lord & Taylor continued to innovate for years until it was sold to the French clothing company, Le Tote Inc. last year.
Both Lord & Taylor and Le Tote Inc. filed for bankruptcy in the Eastern Court of Virginia in August 2020.
