Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest department store is going out of business
FILE – In this Jan. 2, 2019, file photo, women peer in the front door of Lord & Taylor’s flagship Fifth Avenue store which closed for good in New York. New York landmark retailer Lord & Taylor has filed for bankruptcy, joining a growing list of retailers flummoxed by the pandemic. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
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NEW YORK (NewsNation) — The oldest department store in the U.S. is closing its doors. Lord & Taylor which has been in business for 194 years, announced Thursday it will shut down all 38 of its remaining stores and its website.
The well-known retailer filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 2. The company originally planned to keep some locations open, but the retailer said it was a better financial decision to close them all.
It is currently holding “going out of business sales” in stores and online.
“This Going Out of Business event gives shoppers the opportunity to take advantage of exceptional savings on notable brands at rarely seen discounts,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Customers will continue to experience the superior service and value they’ve come to expect from this iconic retailer.”
Founded as a dry goods store in 1826, Lord & Taylor has struggled for years as more people shop online and in other stores. But the pandemic has changed the way people shop, accelerated the shift to online shopping, mostly to the benefit of big retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart.
Since COVID-19 began to spread in the U.S, several clothing sellers have gone bankrupt, including Brooks Brothers, Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney.
Lord & Taylor was shrinking even before the pandemic.
Last year, it closed its 11-story flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue, which it owned for more than a century. Amazon.com, the online shopping giant, is turning the building into an office for its tech workers.
