Rue21 to close two Connecticut mall stores

Rue21, a clothing chain that advertises “comfortable, trendy, and practical apparel and accessories for all genders” will close its two Connecticut stores as part of a bankruptcy that will shutter all 540 outlets nationwide.

Stores in Waterford’s Crystal Mall and Milford’s Connecticut Post Mall are slated to close after final sales in coming weeks. All stores will shut down in the next two months, according to a Chapter 11 filing in Delaware bankruptcy court.

The store closings will impact 4,900 employees nationwide, according to the filing, 1,475 of whom are full-time workers and about 3,440 who are part-time.

Rue21, based in Pennsylvania, has been battered by “underperforming retail locations, increased industry competition and the uptick in online shopping,” interim CEO Michele Pascoe said in an affidavit as part of the filing. The chain’s ecommerce website could not compensate for underperforming brick-and-mortar locations, she added.

Other factors cited in the bankruptcy were inflation, “macroeconomic headwinds” and challenges raising capital.

The Rue21 closings are the latest blow to Connecticut’s struggling shopping malls: Clothing retailer Express announced last month it would shutter four stores in the state amid its own bankruptcy filing. The Connecticut Post Mall plans to add housing in an effort to revitalize the mall property.

In Waterford, Rue21 employees posted “Store Closing” signs early on Friday morning and curious shoppers were already looking in the windows before the 10 a.m. opening, Assistant Manager Edwin Alvarez said. The closing sale will continue until all the store’s stock of items, such as graphic tees, tank tops and shorts is gone.

The Crystal Mall Rue21 employs two full-time workers, one part-time worker and four associates, Alvarez said.

Local store workers were told on Thursday morning of the closing, and hadn’t been offered severance as of Friday morning, Alvarez said. He’s been working at the Waterford store for eight months.

“We didn’t know how to react in that moment,” Alvarez said of the closing announcement.

Albany Times Union Rue 21 at Crossgates Mall in May 2017, in Guilderland, N.Y. The clothing retailer has announced it will shut all of its 540 outlets nationwide, including two in Connecticut malls, as part of a bankruptcy blamed on underperforming stores.