Bed Bath & Beyond Led National Chain Closures In MD In 2023

MARYLAND — Several national discount, department store and specialty chains closed locations in Maryland in 2023 as they grappled with inflationary pressures, filed for bankruptcy or adjusted their business models to reflect changes in consumer shopping habits.

Others, including pharmacy giants CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, closed stores as demand for COVID-19-related services declined. And Target blamed the closure of a handful of metropolitan stores on a spike in organized retail crime.

Here’s a look at how some of the announcements affected Maryland:

Bed Bath & Beyond came back from the dead in digital form after Overstock.com acquired $21.5 million in intellectual property assets from the beleaguered chain. Still, the chain planned to shutter 896 stores as part of its bankruptcy filing, according to NBC News. The closures included 360 flagship stores, 120 Buy Buy Baby stores, and 416 Bed Bath & Beyond, Harmon and Buy Buy Baby stores that were set to close.

In February, seven Maryland Bed Bath & Beyond stores were slated for closure, including three in the Baltimore region. The other were in Annapolis, Bel Air, Westminster, Ocean City, Hagerstown, Germantown and California in St. Mary's County, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Read more: Bed Bath & Beyond Files For Bankruptcy, MD Closing Sales To Start

In August, the new owners of Buy Buy Baby, announced plans to reopen 11 stores in the Northeast, and the new owner of the health and beauty chain Harmon said it would reopen at least five stores, CNBC reported.

Although Rockville's Buy Buy Baby Store located at 1683 Rockville Pike looked like it was going to close its doors for good, it was among the 11 locations Harmon kept open.

Foot Locker said it would shutter 545 stores, including 125 of its Champs Sports locations by 2026, as part of a “reset” that includes opening about 300 “new concept” stores, according to Business Insider. Foot Locker still has 26 Foot Locker stores opened across Maryland.

In February, Dallas-based discount home goods retailer Tuesday Morning announced plans to shutter half its stores amid bankruptcy, but then said in April it would close all of its stores. In all, 487 stores were affected.

Tuesday Morning closed eight of the 10 stores it had in Maryland. The stores slated for closure were:

• 1171 Maryland Ave., South End Shopping Center, Hagerstown
• 121 Hillsmere Drive, Bay Ridge Plaza, Annapolis
• 13822 Georgia Ave., Northgate Plaza, Silver Spring
• 1447 Rock Spring Road, Rock Spring Shopping Center, Bel Air
• 15500 Annapolis Road, Free State Shopping Center, Bowie
• 1616 East Jefferson St., Congressional Plaza, Rockville
• 9150 Baltimore National Pike St. John's Plaza, Ellicott City
• 139 Ritchie Hwy., Magothy Gateway, Severna Park

The Boston-based seasonal specialty retailer Christmas Tree Shops cited slowing demand, inflation and rising interest rates in its May bankruptcy filing. The chain, which previously had closed 10 stores, said it was going out of business and would close its remaining 72 locations in 20 states.

Banana Republic and its parent company, Gap, said about 350 stores would close in 2023 and that it would end the year with about 866 stores.

Party City filed for bankruptcy in January, announced in February it would shutter 22 store closures, and added another nine to the list in April.

Walmart, which has been closing a handful of underperforming stores each year, said it was shuttering 23 stores across a dozen states, according to a Business Insider report.

Best Buy said it would close between 20 and 30 big box stores in 2023, while opening eight smaller concept and 10 outlet stores. The company did not say what specific stores would close, but typically closes between 15 and 20 a year, Business Insider reported.

Best Buy currently has 23 locations in Maryland. In late 2021, the Best Buy at Arundel Mills closed permanently. In a March, 2022 Star Tribune article, Best Buy executives said they expected business to continue to taper.

Target blamed organized retail crime in a September announcement of nine store closures in the New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, areas. Previously, Target closed four stores with declining foot traffic — one each in Philadelphia and its hometown of Minneapolis and two in Washington, D.C.

In Maryland, the Target located at 7501 Baltimore Ave., in College Park closed on May 13, according to DC News Now.

Lidl, the German discount grocery chain, closed 11 of its 170 U.S. stores in six states, citing underperformance. Lidl opened stores in Washington, D.C., and Greensboro, North Carolina, and planned to open another in Brooklyn, New York.

Lidl closed two of its underperforming Maryland locations in Brooklyn Park and Oxon Hill in July.

In reevaluating its physical store strategy, Amazon said in March it would shutter nine of its Go locations — two in New York, three in Seattle, and four in San Francisco, according to Business Insider.

Four Macy’s stores closed in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland as part of the company’s three-year plan to close 125 stores. The Maryland Macy's store was located in Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg.

JCPenney planned to close stores in Oswego, New York; Elkhart, Indiana; and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 2023, MSN reported. Since 2020, the department store chain has closed more than 150 stores. With the closure, 663 stores remain.

Three JCPenney locations closed their doors for good in 2023: Woodmore Towne Centre in Lanham, Boulevard at Box Hill in Abington, and Country Club Mall in Allegany County.

More CVS stores closed as the company adjusts its business plan to reflect changing populations and buying patterns. CVS is in the second year of the three-year plan to close 900 stores by the end of 2024.

Struggling under slumping sales and heavy debt from opioid-related litigation, the Rite Aid drugstore chain said in October it was accelerating the closure of some underperforming drugstores while it restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In all, 154 locations were affected. A month later, Rite Aid said it was closing 31 more stores. In all, 185 locations were affected.

The Maryland Rite Aid stores to be closed according to court documents include:

• Store #365: 728 East Pulaski Highway, Elkton
• Store #374: 5624 Baltimore National Pk, Baltimore
• Store #385: 5804 Ritchie Highway, Baltimore
• Store #1859: 7501 Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie
• Store #3781: 7967 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd, Glen Burnie
• Store #11208: 5 Bel Air South Pky, Suite 1347, Bel Air

Walgreens plans to close 150 stores by the end of August 2024, the Deerfield, Illinois-based drugstore chain said in June, citing slowing demand for COVID-19-related services among other factors. Walgreens did not say which among its 9,000 stores nationwide would close.