2025 was another challenging year for the retail industry, as tariffs added another crushing blow to an industry that had already been dealing with sky-high inflation and waning VC dollars in recent years. The numbers lay bare how challenging it was for the retail industry: As of October, job cuts across U.S. firms hit a 22-year high, with retail being one of the hardest-hit industries. And of course, there were bankruptcies. U.S. business bankruptcies as a whole reached 6,574 in the third quarter of 2025, the highest since mid-2014. In turn, Modern Retail staff rounded up some of the most notable brand names we lost in 2025 — whether they were due to reorganizations, bankruptcies or quiet closures. For many, the past few years had been death by a thousand cuts. This especially proved true for legacy players like Joann and Rite Aid, which had survived prior bankruptcies but ultimately filed for Chapter 11 and wound down their businesses entirely in 2025.Continue reading this article on modernretail.co. Sign up for Modern Retail newsletters to get the latest on the shifting dynamics between retail’s old and new guards.
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