Which well-known retail stores have filed for bankruptcy?
Red Lobster, Walgreens, Rite Aid and many other retailers are struggling with deteriorating financial conditions.
It’s been a year of empty parking lots and signs in windows. Large restaurant and retail chains have tightened their belts to avoid financial losses and have closed “bad” locations as part of a restructuring, new strategy or bankruptcy.
LL Flooring is the latest major chain to announce store closures. The Richmond, Virginia-based company, formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, will close 94 stores in more than 30 states (including Florida) as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Last week, Orlando-based restaurant chain Buca Di Beppo also filed for bankruptcy after closing nearly 20% of its stores last month, citing rising costs and difficulties recruiting staff. But that’s just the latest example.
Here are the major retail and grocery chains that have closed locations in Florida so far in 2024.
January: TGI Fridays closed 36 restaurants, including 2 in Florida
Casual dining chain TGI Fridays – sometimes just called Fridays – announced earlier this year that it would sell several restaurants in the Northeast and close 36 underperforming locations across the country, including two in Florida.
The two closed locations were in Ormond Beach and Royal Palm Beach, leaving 21 TGI Fridays remaining in Florida.
February: Macy’s announces plans to close 150 stores nationwide
Macy’s, the 166-year-old retail giant, announced in February that it would close 150 “unproductive” stores nationwide as part of a major restructuring.
No list has been released and to date, none of the 41 Florida locations appear to have closed. In fact, a new location will open at Waterford Lakes Town Center in Orlando on August 24.
March: Family Dollar and Dollar Tree close nearly 1,000 stores
Dollar Tree closes nearly 1,000 Family Dollar stores
Dollar Tree has announced that it will close nearly 1,000 Family Dollar stores due to underperformance.
Ubiquitous discount retailer Family Dollar announced it would close about 600 stores in the first half of 2024. Another 370 Family Dollar stores and 30 Dollar Tree stores would close over the next few years as leases expire.
No official list has been released, but marketing website Usearch lists the following dollar stores in Florida that closed this year:
- Jacksonville:
- 6765 Dunn Ave
- 744 Edgewood Avenue N
- 6044 Merrill Rd
- 7001 Merrill Rd
- 1556 Monument Rd
- 233 E State St
- Lake landscape: 4945 US-92
- Madison: 244 Base Road
- Orlando: 7113 S Orange Blossom Path
- Tallahassee: 540 W Brevard St
- Titusville: 708 Cheney Hwy
March: Best Buy announces 10 to 15 store closures in 2024
During a conference call in March, electronics retailer Best Buy announced that it expects to close 10 to 15 stores in 2024, after already closing 17 stores in 2023.
No list was provided, but these Florida locations are currently listed on the Best Buy website as temporarily or permanently closed.
- Fort Myers: 10033 Gulf Center Dr
- Jacksonville: 9355 Atlantic Boulevard
- Miami: 11905 S Dixie Hwy
- Tampa: 18071 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy
April: Walmart closes 51 health centers in the US, including 23 in Florida
Walmart announced it would close all 51 of its health centers across the country, including 23 in Florida, citing rising operating costs and a “difficult reimbursement environment.”
April: Tijuana Flats closes 11 locations
Tijuana Flats files for bankruptcy and closes 11 locations
Tijuana Flats, a restaurant company based in Central Florida, has announced it will file for bankruptcy and close 11 locations.
Fox – 35 Orlando
Florida-based Tex-Mex restaurant Tijuana Flats also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year and was purchased by Flatheads, LLC. The company announced it would close 11 underperforming locations, but more Florida locations have closed this year.
No list has been published, but listings on Yelp and Google mark these locations as closed.
- Boynton Beach: 390 N Congress Ave
- Coconut Creek: 6970 State Road 7
- Gainesville: 1720 W. University Ave
- Fort Lauderdale: 1619 E. Sunrise Blvd
- Jacksonville: 9942 Old Baymeadows Road
- Miramar: 14633 Miramar Pkwy
- Oakland Park: 5065 Old Dixie Hwy
- Orlando:
- 4698 Gardens Park Blvd Ste 101
- 14152 Narcoossee Rd
- 7560 W Sand Lake Rd
- Plantation: 1371 p. University Dr.
- Pompano Beach: 431 S. Federal Hwy
- Sarasota: 1635 p.m. Tamiami Trail
- Tampa:
- 17501 Nature Reserve Walk Ln. No. 103
- 4027 S Dale Mabry Hwy
- West Boca Raton: 20401 State Road 7
- West Palm Beach: 2089 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd
- West hunting: 9520 W. Linebaugh Avenue
Four more Tijuana Flats locations were abruptly closed in Jacksonville in February.
May: Red Lobster closed 99 restaurants, including 17 in Florida
Fans of Cheddar Bay Biscuits were saddened when Red Lobster abruptly closed 99 restaurants in 28 states, including 17 in Florida, following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
When the Lakeland-based seafood chain, founded in 1968, filed for bankruptcy weeks later, it listed 228 rejected leases that the company said were still making losses and might have to close. Another 24 Florida stores could go under, according to the filing.
April: Express Inc. closes nearly 100 stores
Fashion retailer Express Inc. announced it will close nearly 100 stores nationwide, including five in Florida, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection program. Here’s the list.
May: rue21 closes all stores
Teen fashion retailer and mall staple rue21 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the third time and announced it will close all of its stores. Of the Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based chain’s 543 stores, 30 are in Florida. Here’s the list.
June: Hooters closed nationwide without warning
Fans of chicken wings, beer and women in short shorts found out on June 22 that around 40 Hooters restaurants had suddenly closed. At least four of them were in Florida. Locals said the Lakeland branch was the second Hooters branch ever to close, in 1984.
“Like many restaurants under pressure due to current market conditions, Hooters has made the difficult decision to close a select number of underperforming locations,” the Atlanta-based sports bar chain said in a statement to Nation’s Restaurant News.
June: Walgreens closes “poor performing” stores
The nationwide drugstore chain Walgreens announced that it would close “certain stores in the United States that are struggling during the crisis.”
No list was provided, but USearch reports that of the 110 Walgreens stores that have closed for any reason this year, only one has been in Florida so far, at 12041 Palm Beach Blvd. in Fort Myers.
Florida has more Walgreens stores than any other state, with 800 locations in 349 cities.
July: Conn’s HomePlus closes some locations
Conn’s HomePlus, a 134-year-old company based in Texas, expanded rapidly last December when it acquired Florida-based WS Badcock, another home goods retailer that operates in the southeastern U.S. under the name Badcock Home Furniture & More. The result was 550 stores in 15 states under the two brands.
In July, Conn’s announced it would close at least 73 stores in 13 states. In Florida, 18 of the 21 stores were closed. But Badcock was hit even harder.
July: Badcock Home Furniture & More closes all locations
Goodbye, Badcock: The end of an era in Southwest Florida
Discover the story behind the closing of Badcock Furniture, a century-old furniture store in Southwest Florida. Learn about the factors that led to the chain’s demise.
Conn’s HomePlus has been downsized, but the new acquisition will be discontinued entirely.
All of Badcock Home Furniture & More’s 300-plus locations will cease operations by October, including about 80 in Florida, where the chain was founded in Mulberry in 1904.
July: Big Lots closes 26 stores in Florida
The major discount retailer announced the closure of up to 40 stores across the country – including eleven in Florida alone – after its first-quarter sales fell by more than 10% and incurred a loss of around $114.5 billion.
At the end of the month, Big Lots said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that up to 315 stores could close. A check of Big Lots’ website revealed that 26 stores in Florida are already holding clearance sales. Here’s the list.
August: Buca di Beppo files for bankruptcy and closes restaurants
Orlando-based casual restaurant chain Buca di Beppo has struggled in recent months, having to close restaurants since the COVID pandemic struck, with nearly 20% of its locations closing in July, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.
The nine locations in Florida have been reduced to three, in Orlando, Celebration/Kissimmee and Davie.
August: LL Flooring closes 94 stores in more than 30 states
LL Flooring, formerly Lumber Liquidators, has announced that it will close 94 stores in more than 30 states after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid nearly $110 million in long-term debt.
The Richmond, Virginia-based company will close five locations in Florida:
