Lord & Taylor closing Westfarms, Danbury, Trumbull locations

Photo | Flickr/Mike Mozart Lord & Taylor is closing its store at Westfarms mall in Farmington.

Write a Comment

By Joe Cooper

Luxury department store retailer Lord & Taylor says it's closing 19 of its 38 stores, including three in Connecticut, after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday.

Lord & Taylor, America's oldest retailer, said it's liquidating stores at Westfarms mall in Farmington and others in Danbury and Trumbull as it becomes the latest retailer to declare bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic.

The bankruptcy comes almost a year after fashion rental subscription service Le Tote Inc. bought the company for $75 million. Before that, Hudson's Bay Company acquired Lord & Taylor in 2012.

Lord & Taylor opened its first store in New York in 1826, making it the nation's first department store. It was once a mainstay of high-end fashion.

Nationally, landlords are bracing for the continued decline of big-box retailers.

Macy’s, J.C. Penney Co., Pier 1 Imports and others have shuttered hundreds of locations in recent months. Meanwhile, national chains like Men's Warehouse, Dunkin', Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, GNC, Nordstrom, AT&T, 24 Hour Fitness and J. Crew are also closing thousands of locations in the U.S.

By the end of this year as many as 25,000 retail stores are expected to permanently close, which would crush 2019’s record of 9,302 closures, according to retail research and advisory firm Coresight Research.

Westfarms, a 1.3 million-square-foot mall straddling the Farmington-West Hartford border, reopened May 20, and entered July with 140 tenants and a roughly 95% occupancy rate.

A CNN report contributed to this story