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.

While we are still entertaining various opportunities, we believe it is prudent to simultaneously put the remainder of the stores into liquidation to maximize value of inventory for the estate while pursuing options for the Company’s brands,’ Ed Kremer, Le Tote’s chief restructuring officer said in a statement.

The company last year, before the emergence of coronavirus, sold its 11-story flagship building on New York´s Fifth Avenue which it had owned for more than a century.

The iconic building was purchased by troubled co-working firm WeWork, before Amazon announced that it had acquired the building for a new Manhattan office earlier this month.

Lord & Taylor’s going out of business sale is expected to begin in most remaining stores on Thursday, and will include store inventory as well as fixtures, furniture, and equipment, the company said.

Dozens of retailers, big and small, have filed for Chapter 11 protection this year. The pace through the first half of 2020 far exceeds the number of retail bankruptcies for all of last year.

About two dozen stores have sought bankruptcy protection since the pandemic started.

They include J. Crew, J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, Stage Stores, and Ascena Retail Group, which owns Lane Bryant in addition to Ann Taylor.

The owner of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank also filed for bankruptcy on the same day as Lord & Taylor.

Tailored Brands, which owns Men´s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank stores, was struggling even before shelter-in-place orders smothered any demand for suits or ties. It wasn’t alone.